Collaborative Research: Linking stress changes and hydrothermal activity during a non-eruptive spreading event.

大洋中脊是新洋底的形成地点，这一过程的特点是地震活动强烈，火山活动活跃，热液循环活跃。后者的证据是从海底喷口(现在著名的黑色吸烟者)喷出的超级热水，这些喷口支持着奇异的生物群落。一个重要的科学目标是了解这些系统的动力学。地震发生在脆性地壳上部对应力的响应，其在空间和时间上的分布是关于地下动态地质过程的主要信息来源。这些地震与导致板块扩张的构造和岩浆事件有关，它们产生的裂缝影响了热液循环、热提取和水-岩石反应的模式。因此，对微震的长期研究是对大洋中脊的动力学过程进行多学科研究的关键。该项目的目标是推断与2005年1月下旬和2月的震群相关的应力变化的空间和时间模式，了解相关的区域扩展事件对热液系统和岩浆分段特征的影响，并确定与区域扩展事件相关的应力变化如何影响地震各向异性和潮汐触发。

Mid ocean ridges are sites of creation of new ocean floor, a process that is characterized by high seismicity (earthquakes) and active volcanism, and vigorous hydrothermal circulation. The latter is evidenced by jets of super heated water rising from vents in the sea floor (the now-famous black smokers) that support exotic biological communities. An important scientific goal is understanding the dynamics of these systems. Earthquakes occur within the upper brittle crust in response to stresses and their distribution in space and time is a primary source of information about dynamic subsurface geologic processes. These earthquakes are associated with both the tectonic and magmatic events that account for plate spreading and they create fractures that influence the patterns of hydrothermal circulation, heat extraction and water-rock reactions. As such, long duration studies of micro-earthquakes are key to multidisciplinary studies of the dynamic processes are mid-ocean ridges. The objectives of this project are to infer spatial and temporal patterns of stress changes associated with the earthquake swarms in late January and February 2005, to understand the impact of the associated regional spreading event on the characteristics of hydrothermal systems and magmatic segmentation, and to determine how stress changes associated with the regional spreading event affect seismic anisotropy and tidal triggering.