Udintsev, G.B. (1996). Equatorial segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Technical Series. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission = Série technique, 46. UNESCO: Paris. iv, 122 pp.
Part of: IOC Technical Series. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission = Série technique. UNESCO: Paris. ISSN 0074-1175
The Equatorial Segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a part of this mid-oceanic ridge limited by a cluster of fracture zones - Cape Verde, Marathon, Mercury, Vema, Doldrums, Vemadsky and Sierra Leone - in the North, and a similar cluser of fracture zones - St. Paul, Romanche and Chain - in the South.During recent decades, following the publication of the 5th edition of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), there has been a great deal of geological-geophysical research and mapping of the World Ocean. The results have led to the development of a number of theories concerning the essential heterogeneity of the structure of the ocean floor and, in particular, the heterogeneity of the structure and segmentation of mid-oceanic ridges. Research on the nature of such segmentation is of great importance for an understanding of the processes of development of such ridges and oceanic basins as a whole.Detailed surveys of the Equatorial Segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge were carried out under an international programme, EQUARIDGE, supported by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO), during three cruises (7, 11 and 12) of the Russian R/V “Akademik Nikolaj Strakhov” (Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, USSR) between 1988 and 1991.On the basis of the results obtained, the participants in the expeditions concluded that the numerous faults which intersect the equatorial part of the Mid-Atlantic ridge are of varying ages and relate differently to the structures of the rift zone in time and space. The data indicate that the structure of the EquatorialSegment is anomalous and differs substantively from the adjacent north and south parts of the ridge. It was also observed that spreading in this area is clearly evident only in the narrow axial zone of the Segment. The structure of the Segment’s flanks is mosaic in appearance, reassembling a plateau rather than a spreading system.
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