Crustal structure of the propagating TAMMAR ridge segment on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 21.5°N

Active ridge propagation frequently occurs along spreading ridges and profoundly affects ridge crest segmentation over time. The mechanisms controlling ridge propagation, however, are poorly understood. At the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 21.5°N a seismic refraction and wide-angle reflection profile surveyed the crustal structure along a segment controlled by rapid ridge propagation. Tomographic traveltime inversion of seismic data suggests that the crustal structure along the ridge axis is controlled by melt supply; thus, crust is thickest, 8 km, at the domed segment center and decreases in thickness toward both segment ends. However, thicker crust is formed in the direction of ridge propagation, suggesting that melt is preferentially transferred toward the propagating ridge tip. Further, while seismic layer 2 remains constant along axis, seismic layer 3 shows profound changes in thickness, governing variations in total crustal thickness. This feature supports mantle upwelling at the segment center. Thus, fluid basaltic melt is redistributed easily laterally, while more viscose gabbroic melt tends to crystallize and accrete nearer to the locus of melt supply. The onset of propagation seems to have coincided with the formation of thicker crust, suggesting that propagation initiation might be due to changes in the melt supply. After a rapid initiation a continuous process of propagation was established. The propagation rate seems to be controlled by the amount of magma that reaches the segment ends. The strength of upwelling may govern the evolution of ridge segments and hence ultimately controls the propagation length

Enhanced Mantle Upwelling/Melting Caused Segment Propagation, Oceanic Core Complex Die Off, and the Death of a Transform Fault:The Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 21.5°N

Crustal structure provides the key to understand the interplay of magmatism and tectonism while oceanic crust is constructed at Mid Ocean Ridges (MOR). At slow spreading rates, magmatic processes dominate central areas of MOR segments, whereas segment ends are highly tectonised. The TAMMAR segment at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) between 21°25' N and 22° N is a magmatically active segment. At ~4.5 Ma this segment started to propagate south, causing the termination of the transform fault at 21°40' N. This stopped long-lived detachment faulting and caused the migration of the ridge offset to the south. Here, a segment centre with a high magmatic budget has replaced a transform fault region with limited magma supply. We present results from seismic refraction profiles that mapped the crustal structure across the ridge crest of the TAMMAR segment. Seismic data yield crustal structure changes at the segment centre as a function of melt supply. Seismic Layer 3 underwent profound changes in thickness and became rapidly thicker ~5 Ma. This correlates with the observed “Bull's eye” gravimetric anomaly in that region. Our observations support a temporal change from thick lithosphere with oceanic core complex formation and transform faulting to thin lithosphere with focused mantle upwelling and segment growth. Temporal changes in crustal construction are connected to variations in the underlying mantle. We propose there is a link between the neighbouring segments at a larger scale within the asthenosphere, to form a long, highly magmatically active macro segment, here called the TAMMAR-Kane MacroSegment

Mid-ocean ridge jumps associated with hotspot magmatism

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters 266 (2008): 256-270, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.10.055.Hotspot-ridge interaction produces a wide range of phenomena including excess crustal thickness, geochemical anomalies, off-axis volcanic ridges and ridge relocations or jumps. Ridges are recorded to have jumped toward many hotspots including, Iceland, Discovery, Galapagos, Kerguelen and Tristan de Cuhna. The causes of ridge jumps likely involve a number of interacting processes related to hotspots. One such process is reheating of the lithosphere as magma penetrates it to feed near-axis volcanism. We study this effect by using the hybrid, finite-element code, FLAC, to simulate two-dimensional (2-D, cross-section) viscous mantle flow, elasto-plastic deformation of the lithosphere and heat transport in a ridge setting near an off-axis hotspot. Heating due to magma transport through the lithosphere is implemented within a hotspot region of fixed width. To determine the conditions necessary to initiate a ridge jump, we vary four parameters: hotspot magmatic heating rate, spreading rate, seafloor age at the location of the hotspot and ridge migration rate. Our results indicate that the hotspot magmatic heating rate required to initiate a ridge jump increases non-linearly with increasing spreading rate and seafloor age. Models predict that magmatic heating, itself, is most likely to cause jumps at slow spreading rates such as at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on Iceland. In contrast, despite the higher magma flux at the Galapagos hotspot, magmatic heating alone is probably insufficient to induce a ridge jump at the present-day due to the intermediate ridge spreading rate of the Galapagos Spreading Center. The time required to achieve a ridge jump, for fixed or migrating ridges, is found to be on the order of 105-106 years. Simulations that incorporate ridge migration predict that after a ridge jump occurs the hotspot and ridge migrate together for time periods that increase with magma flux. Model results also suggest a mechanism for ridge reorganizations not related to hotspots such as ridge jumps in back-arc settings and ridge segment propagation along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.Mittelstaedt, Ito and Behn were funded by NSF grant OCE03-51234 and OCE05-48672

Gravity and seismic study of crustal structure along the Juan de Fuca Ridge axis and across pseudofaults on the ridge flanks

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 12 (2011): Q05008, doi:10.1029/2010GC003439.Variations in topography and seismic structure are observed along the Juan de Fuca (JdF) Ridge axis and in the vicinity of pseudofaults on the ridge flanks left by former episodes of ridge propagation. Here we analyze gravity data coregistered with multichannel seismic data from the JdF Ridge and flanks in order to better understand the origin of crustal structure variations in this area. The data were collected along the ridge axis and along three ridge-perpendicular transects at the Endeavor, Northern Symmetric, and Cleft segments. Negative Mantle Bouguer anomalies of −21 to −28 mGal are observed at the axis of the three segments. Thicker crust at the Endeavor and Cleft segments is inferred from seismic data and can account for the small differences in axial gravity anomalies (3–7 mGal). Additional low densities/elevated temperatures within and/or below the axial crust are required to explain the remaining axial MBA low at all segments. Gravity models indicate that the region of low densities is wider beneath the Cleft segment. Gravity models for pseudofaults crossed along the three transects support the presence of thinner and denser crust within the pseudofault zones that we attribute to iron-enriched crust. On the young crust side of the pseudofaults, a 10–20 km wide zone of thicker crust is found. Reflection events interpreted as subcrustal sills underlie the zones of thicker crust and are the presumed source for the iron enrichment.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation grants OCE‐0648303 to Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory, OCE‐0648923 to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Spatial variations of P wave attenuation in the mantle beneath North America

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95407/1/jgrb15974.pd

A geological model for the structure of ridge segments in slow spreading ocean crust

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 1994. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 99, no. B6 (1994): 11937–11958, doi:10.1029/94JB00338.First-order (transform) and second-order ridge-axis discontinuities create a fundamental segmentation of the lithosphere along mid-ocean ridges, and in slow spreading crust they commonly are associated with exposure of subvolcanic crust and upper mantle. We analyzed available morphological, gravity, and rock sample data from the Atlantic Ocean to determine whether consistent structural patterns occur at these discontinuities and to constrain the processes that control the patterns. The results show that along their older, inside-corner sides, both first-and second-order discontinuities are characterized by thinned crust and/or mantle exposures as well as by irregular fault patterns and a paucity of volcanic features. Crust on young, outside-corner sides of discontinuities has more normal thickness, regular fault patterns, and common volcanic forms. These patterns are consistent with tectonic thinning of crust at inside corners by low-angle detachment faults as previously suggested for transform discontinuities by Dick et al. [1981] and Karson [1990]. Volcanic upper crust accretes in the hanging wall of the detachment, is stripped from the inside-corner footwall, and is carried to the outside comer. Gravity and morphological data suggest that detachment faulting is a relatively continuous, long-lived process in crust spreading at <25–30 mm/yr, that it rnay be intermittent at intermediate rates of 25–40 mm/yr, and that it is unlikely to occur at faster rates. Detachment surfaces are dissected by later, high-angle faults formed during crustal uplift into the rift mountains; these faults can cut through the entire crust and may be the kinds of faults imaged by seismic reflection profiling over Cretaceous North Atlantic crust. Off-axis variations in gravity anomalies indicate that slow spreading crust experiences cyclic magmatic/amagmatic extension and that a typical cycle is about 2 m.y. long. During magmatic phases the footwall of the detachment fault probably exposes lower crustal gabbros, although these rocks locally may have an unconformable volcanic carapace. During amagmatic extension the detachment may dip steeply through the crust, providing a mechanism whereby upper mantle ultramafic rocks can be exhumed very rapidly, perhaps in as little as 0.5 m.y. Together, detachment faulting and cyclic magmatic/amagmatic extension create strongly heterogeneous lithosphere both along and across isochrons in slow spreading ocean crust.This research was supported by Office of Naval Research grants N00014-90-J-1621 and N00014-91-J-1433 and by National Science Foundation grants OCE 8716713 and OCE 9020408

Glutamate is required for depression but not potentiation of long-term presynaptic function

Hebbian plasticity is thought to require glutamate signalling. We show this is not the case for hippocampal presynaptic long-term potentiation (LTPpre), which is expressed as an increase in transmitter release probability (Pr). We find that LTPpreandnbsp;can be induced by pairing pre- and postsynaptic spiking in the absence of glutamate signalling. LTPpreinduction involves a non-canonical mechanism of retrograde nitric oxide signalling, which is triggered by Ca2+andnbsp;influx from L-type voltage-gated Ca2+andnbsp;channels, not postsynaptic NMDA receptors (NMDARs), and does not require glutamate release. When glutamate release occurs, it decreases Prandnbsp;by activating presynaptic NMDARs, and promotes presynaptic long-term depression. Net changes in Pr, therefore, depend on two opposing factors: (1) Hebbian activity, which increases Pr, and (2) glutamate release, which decreases Pr. Accordingly, release failures during Hebbian activity promote LTPpreinduction. Our findings reveal a novel framework of presynaptic plasticity that radically differs from traditional models of postsynaptic plasticity.</p

Breeding for increased nitrogen-use efficiency: a review for wheat (T. aestivum L.)

Nitrogen fertilizer is the most used nutrient source in modern agriculture and represents significant environmental and production costs. In the meantime, the demand for grain increases and production per area has to increase as new cultivated areas are scarce. In this context, breeding for an efficient use of nitrogen became a major objective. In wheat, nitrogen is required to maintain a photosynthetically active canopy ensuring grain yield and to produce grain storage proteins that are generally needed to maintain a high end-use quality. This review presents current knowledge of physiological, metabolic and genetic factors influencing nitrogen uptake and utilization in the context of different nitrogen management systems. This includes the role of root system and its interactions with microorganisms, nitrate assimilation and its relationship with photosynthesis as postanthesis remobilization and nitrogen partitioning. Regarding nitrogen-use efficiency complexity, several physiological avenues for increasing it were discussed and their phenotyping methods were reviewed. Phenotypic and molecular breeding strategies were also reviewed and discussed regarding nitrogen regimes and genetic diversity