The nature and origin of fine-scale sea-floor relief
type: CreativeWork
description: Bathymetric profiles of mid-ocean ridges show that the morphology of ridge crests and the roughness of sea-floor relief created there is commonly related to the spreading rate. To study the creation of fine-scale sea-floor relief at mid-ocean ridges, detailed bathymetric profiles of mid-ocean rid£es collected with the deep tow instrument package were compiled. Tectonic features were identified in order to provide an estimate of the zone over which tectonic relief is created. The results suggest the age of the sea-floor to which tectonism is active is considerably greater at the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge though not noticeably variable among faster spreading centers. The roughness of sea-floor relief was measured using longer deep tow profiles. Surprisingly, the sea-floor relief created at slow spreading centers is not noticeably rougher than that created at faster spreading centers, contrary to the often noted inverse relationship between sea-floor roughness and spreading rate. It is postulated that the apparent smooth sea-floor relief created at fast spreading centers is due to the inability of typical surface ship profiling systems to resolve the small amplitude/ short wavelength relief created there. Surface ship bathymetric profiles of mid-ocean ridges were also compiled to better define the relationships between the dimensions of median rifts or central highs at spreading centers and the roughness of sea-floor relief as seen by surface ship profiling systems with spreading rate. The measurement of ridge crest dimensions shows that though the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge commonly does have medium rifts and the fast spreading East Pacific Rise has central highs, when ridge crest dimensions are plotted versus spreading rate, no clear correlation can be seen in the individual oceans. The roughness of sea-floor relief was measured using the compiled surface ship profiles. A good inverse correlation between roughness and spreading rate can be seen in the …
abstract: Bathymetric profiles of mid-ocean ridges show that the morphology of ridge crests and the roughness of sea-floor relief created there is commonly related to the spreading rate. To study the creation of fine-scale sea-floor relief at mid-ocean ridges, detailed bathymetric profiles of mid-ocean rid£es collected with the deep tow instrument package were compiled. Tectonic features were identified in order to provide an estimate of the zone over which tectonic relief is created. The results suggest the age of the sea-floor to which tectonism is active is considerably greater at the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge though not noticeably variable among faster spreading centers. The roughness of sea-floor relief was measured using longer deep tow profiles. Surprisingly, the sea-floor relief created at slow spreading centers is not noticeably rougher than that created at faster spreading centers, contrary to the often noted inverse relationship between sea-floor roughness and spreading rate. It is postulated that the apparent smooth sea-floor relief created at fast spreading centers is due to the inability of typical surface ship profiling systems to resolve the small amplitude/ short wavelength relief created there. Surface ship bathymetric profiles of mid-ocean ridges were also compiled to better define the relationships between the dimensions of median rifts or central highs at spreading centers and the roughness of sea-floor relief as seen by surface ship profiling systems with spreading rate. The measurement of ridge crest dimensions shows that though the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge commonly does have medium rifts and the fast spreading East Pacific Rise has central highs, when ridge crest dimensions are plotted versus spreading rate, no clear correlation can be seen in the individual oceans. The roughness of sea-floor relief was measured using the compiled surface ship profiles. A good inverse correlation between roughness and spreading rate can be seen in the …
author: Shih, John Shai-Fu
language: en_US
keywords: Mid-ocean ridges, Ocean bottom, Submarine topography
date published: 1979-12
date modified: 2026-07-27T22:05:10Z
provider: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/1832

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.1575/1912/1832