Intellectual Merit: There remain many unanswered questions about the formation of mid-ocean ridges and the speed at which large detachment faults, which seem to be prevalent in many parts of the seafloor, move. This project uses seafloor rocks (gabbros and late stage felsic dikes) and state-of-the-art geochronology techniques to investigate the movement of detachment faults associated with the Kane Oceanic Core Complex on the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Rock samples are in-hand. Dates will be obtained using single zircon U/Pb to determine the emplacement ages of crustal gabbros. Analyses will be carried out using the SHRIMP ion probe at Stanford. To cross-check ages, seafloor magnetic anomaly data will be compared to the U/Pb zircon dates. Results should determine the rates of plate spreading and detachment faulting in the area, which will allow generation of a crustal-accretion timeline for the Kane Megamullion Core Complex.
Broader Impacts: This research supports two investigators at an institution in an EPScOR state, one of whom is female, and includes a graduate student training component. The work is complementary to both the International Ocean Drilling Program as well as the RIDGE 2000 Program, both of which are NSF-funded research initiatives.
