Thursday, February 11, 2010

Why do oceanic ridges segmented?

when i look at geologic map, i always see the oceanic ridges segmented, why are they not straight? what is the mechanism behind this segmentation? and why are they segmented to small segments on the both sides?Why do oceanic ridges segmented?
The upwelling and extrusion of magma and magma bodies is not homogeneous across the length of the ridge. In a simple view, the magma rises in bubbles, so the ridge consists of a series of spreading centers with variable rates of opening (and these rates are not constant through time at a given location). The different segments are connected by perpendicular transform faults that accomodate these variations.

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