Collaborative Research: Integrated Geophysical Study of the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge and Alpha Ridge from a Nuclear Submarine

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A geophysical survey of the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge and Alpha Ridge are proposed for the 1997 SCICEX cruise to the Arctic Ocean. Instrumentation for the 1997 cruise has been greatly augmented by a bathymetry system and a CHIRP profiler. These instruments provide, for the first time, the ability to systematically map and characterize large portions of the Arctic Ocean floor. Two unique, important and largely unknown structures of the Arctic Ocean, the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge and the Alpha Ridge will be investigated. The Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge (AMOR) is the slowest spreading oceanic portion of the mid-ocean ridge system with total spreading rates of 0.63 to 1.33 cm/yr. These spreading rates are so low that some models of mantle flow predict that no crust should be produced. At present, the morphology and structure of the AMOR, and in particular its slower eastern portion, are almost completely unknown. The Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge is a broad swell which extends for 200 km completely across the Amerasia Basin. It is probably a hotspot trace although a number of other origins have been proposed, and it appears to have been affected by tectonic as well as volcanic processes. The tectonic fabric and structure of the Alpha Ridge and it role in the development of the Amerasia Basin are unknown.