MURRAY FRACTURE ZONE - WESTWARD EXTENSION

The Murray Fracture Zone is one of the principal east-west rifts in the crust of the northeast Pacific basin. As judged by bathymetric and magnetic surveys, the Murray approaches the Hawaiian Archipelago as a well-defined zone of ridges and troughs accompanied by strong, linear magnetic anomalies. It loses its topographic expression on encountering the Hawaiian Arch but can be traced magnetically to its intersection with the Hawaiian Ridge in the vicinity of Laysan Island (near 172°W). All evidence tends to discount a previously suggested genetic relation between the Murray Fracture Zone and the Necker Ridge.