aseismic ridge

aseismic ridge, a long, linear and mountainous structure that crosses the basin floor of some oceans. Earthquakes do not occur within aseismic ridges, and it is this feature that distinguishes them from oceanic spreading centres. Most aseismic ridges are constructed by volcanism from a hot spot and are composed of coalescing volcanoes of various sizes.

The Hawaiian-Emperor chain is the best displayed aseismic ridge. Earthquakes do occur there, but only at the end of the ridge where volcanism is current—in this case, on the island of Hawaii (commonly known as the Big Island) to the southeast end of the island chain. Taking into account the relief of the island of Hawaii above the seafloor, it is the largest volcanic edifice on Earth. The Hawaiian-Emperor chain stretches from the Big Island to the intersection of the Kuril and Aleutian trenches in the northwest Pacific. There are roughly 18 volcanoes or seamounts per 1,000 kilometres (about 600 miles) along the Hawaiian segment and 13 per 1,000 kilometres on the Emperor portion beyond the bend. The Hawaiian Islands are a part of the chain—the young part—that rises above sea level. The Hawaiian-Emperor chain has two main trends: (1) from the Hawaiian Islands west to the Kammu and Yūryaku seamounts (near 32° N, 168° W), the trend of the Hawaiian portion is just west of northwest; and (2) from this point to the Aleutian Trench, the trend of the Emperor segment is north-northwest. The hot spot interpretation infers that this change in trend is due to a change in the direction of Pacific Plate motion, from north-northwest prior to 38 million years ago (the age of the ridge at the change in trend) to west of northwest until the present day. Radiometric dating of rocks from the ridge indicates that it is 70 million years old at its extreme north end.

Other prominent aseismic ridges include the Ninetyeast Ridge and the Chagos-Laccadive Plateau in the Indian Ocean and the Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise in the South Atlantic. The Ninetyeast Ridge is thought to have originated from hot spot volcanic activity now located at the Kerguelen Islands near Antarctica. These islands lie atop the Kerguelen Plateau, which also originated from volcanism at this hot spot. The Ninetyeast Ridge stretches parallel to 90° E longitude in a long, linear chain of seamounts and volcanic ridges from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal more than 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles) to the south where it intersects Broken Ridge at 30° S latitude. Broken Ridge is an aseismic ridge and was once part of the Kerguelen Plateau. It was split away from the plateau as Australia separated from Antarctica.

Core samples of the seafloor along the Ninetyeast Ridge have been retrieved through deep-sea drilling. Analyses of the samples show that the ridge is slightly less than 30 million years old in the south and about 80 million years old in the north. Additionally, sediments on the ridge indicate that parts of it were above sea level while it was being built near a spreading centre. The ridge then subsided as it rode north on the Indian Plate.

The Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise originated from hot spot volcanism now occurring at the islands of Tristan da Cunha 300 kilometres (about 190 miles) east of the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The Walvis Ridge trends northeast from this location to the African margin. The Rio Grande Rise trends roughly southeast from the South American margin toward the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Both the Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise began forming from the same hot spot near the spreading centre as the South Atlantic was in its initial opening stages 100 to 80 million years ago. The spreading centre shifted west of the hot spot about 80 million years ago, ending construction of the Rio Grande Rise but continuing to build the Walvis Ridge. Volcanic activity has since diminished, resulting in the younger part of the latter ridge being smaller. The findings of ocean drilling on the Rio Grande Rise show that it was once a volcanic island some two kilometres (one mile) high.