Fracture zone

Fracture zone

A fracture zone is a linear oceanic feature--often hundreds, even thousands of kilometers long--resulting from the action of offset mid-ocean ridge axis segments. They are a consequence of plate tectonics. Lithospheric plates on either side of an active transform fault move in opposite directions; here, strike-slip activity occurs. Fracture zones extend past the transform faults, away from the ridge axis; seismically inactive (because both plate segments are moving in the same direction), they display evidence of past transform fault activity, primarily in the different ages of the crust on opposite sides of the zone.

In actual usage, many transform faults aligned with fracture zones are often loosely referred to as "fracture zones" although technically, they are not.

References


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  • fracture zone — Oceanog. a long, narrow rift on the ocean floor, separating areas of differing depth: where such a zone crosses a mid ocean ridge, it displaces the ridge by faulting. Cf. transform fault. [1960 65] * * * …   Universalium

  • fracture zone — Oceanog. a long, narrow rift on the ocean floor, separating areas of differing depth: where such a zone crosses a mid ocean ridge, it displaces the ridge by faulting. Cf. transform fault. [1960 65] …   Useful english dictionary

  • Mendocino Fracture Zone — ▪ fracture zone, Pacific Ocean        submarine fracture zone in the eastern Pacific Ocean, defined by one of the major transform faults dissecting the spreading centre of the Gorda Ridges. The Mendocino Fracture Zone extends west from… …   Universalium

  • fracture zone — noun Date: 1946 an area of suboceanic crust characterized by fractures …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • fracture zone — Смотри очаг разрушения …   Энциклопедический словарь по металлургии

  • fracture zone — /ˈfræktʃə zoʊn/ (say frakchuh zohn) noun an area of a rock mass in which the fabric of the rock is disturbed by earth movement …  

  • Mendocino Fracture Zone — The Mendocino Fracture Zone between the Gorda Plate and Pacific Plate The Mendocino Fracture Zone is a fracture zone and transform boundary off the coast of Cape Mendocino in far northern California. It runs westward from a triple junction with… …   Wikipedia

  • Clipperton Fracture Zone — Major Pacific trenches (1–10) and fracture zones (11–20). The Clipperton Fracture Zone is the nearly horizontal line No. 15 below the Clarion Fracture Zone (14), and the Middle America Trench is the deep blue line No. 9. The Clipperton Fracture… …   Wikipedia

  • submarine fracture zone — Long, narrow, and mountainous submarine lineation that generally separates ocean floor ridges differing in depth by as much as 1 mi (1.6 km). The largest fracture zones, in the eastern Pacific, are more than 1,000 mi (1,600 km) long and 60–125 mi …   Universalium

  • Easter Fracture Zone — ▪ Pacific Ocean        submarine fracture zone in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, defined by one of the major transform faults traversing the northern part of the East Pacific Rise. The Easter Fracture Zone is 3,700 miles (5,900 km) long,… …   Universalium

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