BUILDING THE CRUST AT THE MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

The morphology of the sea floor at mid-ocean-ridge spreading centres provides a key to understanding how ocean crust is constructed. Images of the axial zone of the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge, obtained at a range of spatial scales, show that crustal construction is complex and highly variable, reflecting an underlying three-dimensional variability in magmatic, tectonic and hydrothermal processes.