Clipperton Fracture Zone

Clipperton Fracture Zone

▪ geological feature, Pacific Ocean
       submarine fracture zone, 4,500 miles (7,240 km) in length, defined by one of the major transform faults dissecting the northern part of the East Pacific Rise in the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Discovered and delineated by expeditions of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1950 and succeeding years, the fracture zone trends east-northeast from the vicinity of the Line Islands at about latitude 2° N and longitude 153° E to the vicinity of the Middle America Trench off Central America at latitude 10° N.

      The Clipperton Fracture Zone is one of a family of five great lineations in the North Pacific seafloor, all of which conform closely to global small circles concentric about a common pole at latitude 79° N and longitude 111° E. This geometry suggests a common history for the fracture zones and implies that the Clipperton Fracture Zone, like its northern counterparts, was produced as a scar of transform faulting associated with seafloor spreading (seafloor spreading hypothesis) that began at least 80 million years ago.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 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

  • Tehuantepec Ridge — The Tehuantepec Ridge is a linear undersea ridge located off the west coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean. It is the remnant of an old fracture zone, and not a tectonic spreading center ridge ( see Mid Ocean Ridge). It extends from the eastern… …   Wikipedia

  • Manganese nodule — Polymetallic nodules, also called manganese nodules, are rock concretions on the sea bottom formed of concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core. The core may be microscopically small and is sometimes completely transformed… …   Wikipedia

  • Benthimermithidae — Научная классификация промежуточные ранги Домен:  …   Википедия

  • PACIFIQUE (OCÉAN) — La superficie de l’océan Pacifique atteint 181 millions de kilomètres carrés, soit la moitié de tous les océans et plus du tiers de la surface du globe, qui totalise 510 millions de kilomètres carrés. Sa surface est équivalente à celle de tous… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Oceanic trench — Oceanic crust is formed at an oceanic ridge, while the lithosphere is subducted back into the asthenosphere at trenches. The oceanic trenches are hemispheric scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. They are also the… …   Wikipedia

  • Azores — This article is about the archipelago. For the area of high pressure, see Azores High. Coordinates: 37°44′28″N 25°40′32″W / 37.74111°N 25.67556°W …   Wikipedia

  • Easter Island — For the album by Kris Kristofferson, see Easter Island (album). Rapa Nui redirects here. For other uses, see Rapa Nui (disambiguation). Coordinates: 27°7′S 109°22′W /  …   Wikipedia

  • Ducie Island — A beach on Acadia Islet …   Wikipedia

  • OCÉANIE - Géographie physique — S’il est impossible de chiffrer avec précision le nombre d’îles, d’îlots et de récifs qui parsèment l’océan Pacifique – plusieurs dizaines de milliers en tout cas –, on peut constater d’abord que ces terres émergées ne représentent au total… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”