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

提议为1997年科学、气候和地球物理执行计划北冰洋巡航考察对北极洋中脊和阿尔法脊进行地球物理调查。 1997年航行的仪器已大大增加，增加了一个测深系统和一个CHIRP剖面仪。 这些仪器首次提供了系统地绘制北冰洋海底大部分区域的地图和描述其特征的能力。 将对北冰洋的两个独特、重要和基本上不为人知的结构-北极洋中脊和阿尔法脊进行调查。 北极洋中脊是洋中脊系统中扩张最慢的部分，总扩张速率为0.63至1.33厘米/年。 这些扩张速度如此之低，以至于一些地幔流动模型预测不应该产生地壳。 目前，AMOR的形态和结构，特别是其较慢的东部，几乎完全未知。 阿尔法-门捷列夫海岭是一个宽阔的隆起，延伸200公里，完全穿过美亚海盆。 这可能是一个热点的痕迹，虽然一些其他的起源已经提出，它似乎已经受到构造以及火山过程的影响。 阿尔法海岭的构造和结构及其在美亚海盆发展中的作用尚不清楚。

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.