The P.I.'s will continue the projects involving SIMS measurement of U-Th isotopes of oceanic basalts. They have selected two ridge segments, one from EPR and th other from MAR, with very different spreading rates for their study. Whereas the EPR segment is free of any hot spot or plume contamination, the MAR segment chosen has been effected by the Azores plume. The purpose of the proposed research is to evaluate the effects of the melting process (melt generation, magma transit times, fractional crystallization effects) and source characteristics using U-Th disequilibrium as a tool.
