Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Axial Summit Trough

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences

  • 678 Accesses

Synonyms

Axial summit collapse trough; Axial summit graben; Cleft

Definition

An axial summit trough (AST) is a narrow trough or volcanically modified graben that develops at the crest of a midocean ridge and typically is the locus of volcanic and hydrothermal activity.

Introduction

At the summit of magmatically robust midocean ridges (MORs), a narrow trough may develop that marks the location of the divergent plate boundary and is the locus of most magmatic and hydrothermal activity (Macdonald and Fox, 1988). This axial summit trough (AST) is typically less than 500 m in width and 50 m in depth and may be discontinuous along the ridge in terms of its width, depth, strike, and continuity. ASTs are common along fast- and intermediate-spreading rate ridges (e.g., East Pacific Rise, Juan de Fuca Ridge, Galapagos Spreading Center), and magma-rich, inflated portions of the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Lau Basin back-arc spreading center.

Development of the Axial Summit Trough

The...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Carbotte, S. M., Solomon, A., and Ponce-Correa, G., 2000. Evaluation of morphological indicators of magma supply and segmentation from a seismic reflection study of the East Pacific Rise 15°30′–17°N. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 2737.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carbotte, S. M., Ryan, W. B., Jin, W., Cormier, M. H., Bergmanis, E., Sinton, J., and White, S., 2003. Magmatic subsidence of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 18°14′ S revealed through fault restoration of ridge crest bathymetry. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 4, doi:10.1029/2002GC000337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carbotte, S. M., Detrick, R. S., Harding, A., Canales, J. P., Babcock, J., Kent, G., Ark, E. V., Nedimovic, M., and Diebold, J., 2006. Rift topography linked to magmatism at the intermediate spreading Juan de Fuca Ridge. Geology, 34, 209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, W. W., 2003. Quantitative constraints on the growth of submarine lava pillars from a monitoring instrument that was caught in a lava flow. Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, 2534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, W. W., Jr., and Embley, R. W., 1998. Graben formation associated with recent dike intrusions and volcanic eruptions on the mid-ocean ridge. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103, 9807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fornari, D. J., Haymon, R. M., Perfit, M. R., Gregg, T. K. P., and Edwards, M. H., 1998. Axial summit trough of the East Pacific Rice 9°–10°N: geological characteristics and evolution of the axial zone on fast spreading mid-ocean ridge. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103, 9827–9855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francheteau, J., Juteau, T., and Rangin, C., 1979. Basaltic pillars in collapsed lava-pools on the deep ocean floor. Nature, 281, 209–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregg, T. K. P., Fornari, D. J., Perfit, M. R., Ridley, W. I., and Kurz, M. D., 2000. Using submarine lava pillars to record mid-ocean ridge eruption dynamics. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 178, 195–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haymon, R. M., and White, S. M., 2004. Fine-scale segmentation of volcanic/hydrothermal systems along fast-spreading ridge crests. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 226, 367–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haymon, R. M., Fornari, D. J., Edwards, M. H., Carbotte, S., Wright, D., and Macdonald, K. C., 1991. Hydrothermal vent distribution along the East Pacific Rise crest (9°09′–54′ N) and its relationship to magmatic and tectonic processes on fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 104, 513–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langmuir, C. H., Bender, J. F., and Batiza, R., 1986. Petrological and tectonic segmentation of the East Pacific Rise, 5°30′–14°30′ N. Nature, 322, 422–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, K. C., and Fox, P. J., 1988. The axial summit graben and cross-sectional shape of the East Pacific Rise as indicators of axial magma chambers and recent volcanic eruptions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 88, 119–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, K. C., Fox, P. J., Perram, L. J., Eisen, M. F., Haymon, R. M., Miller, S. P., Carbotte, S. M., Cormier, M. H., and Shor, A. N., 1988. A new view of the mid-ocean ridge from the behaviour of ridge-axis discontinuities. Nature, 335, 217–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qin, R., and Buck, W. R., 2008. Why meter-wide dikes at oceanic spreading centers? Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 265, 466–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, A. M., and Pollard, D. D., 1988. Dike-induced faulting in rift zones of Iceland and Afar. Geology, 16, 413–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. C., Perfit, M. R., Fornari, D. J., Ridley, W. I., Edwards, M. H., Kurras, G. J., and Von Damm, K. L., 2001. Magmatic processes and segmentation at a fast spreading mid-ocean ridge: detailed investigation of an axial discontinuity on the East Pacific Rise crest at 9°37′N. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2, doi:10.1029/2000GC000134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soule, S. A., Fornari, D. J., Perfit, M. R., and Rubin, K. H., 2007. New insights into mid-ocean ridge volcanic processes from the 2005–2006 eruption of the East Pacific Rise, 9°46′N–9°56′N. Geology, 35, 1079–1082.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soule, S. A., Escartín, J., and Fornari, D. J., 2009. A record of eruption and intrusion at a fast spreading ridge axis: axial summit trough of the East Pacific Rise at 9–10°N. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2008GC002354.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, S. M., Macdonald, K. C., and Haymon, R. M., 2000. Basaltic lava domes, lava lakes, and volcanic segmentation on the southern East Pacific Rise. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 23519–23536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, S. M., Haymon, R. M., and Carbotte, S., 2006. A new view of ridge segmentation and near-axis volcanism at the East Pacific Rise, 8–12 N, from EM300 multibeam bathymetry. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 7, doi:10.1029/2006GC001407.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Rd., MS# 24, 02543-1050, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Samuel Adam Soule

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, 241 WIlliamson Hall, PO Box 112120, 32611-2120, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Michael Perfit

Authors
  1. Samuel Adam Soule
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Perfit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samuel Adam Soule .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

    Jan Harff

  2. Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Martin Meschede

  3. Leibiniz Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Sven Petersen

  4. Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and Lit c/o Helmholtz-Center for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany

    Jörn Thiede

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Soule, S.A., Perfit, M. (2015). Axial Summit Trough. In: Harff, J., Meschede, M., Petersen, S., Thiede, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_3-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_3-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6644-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Axial Summit Trough
    Published:
    02 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_3-2

  2. Original

    Axial Summit Trough
    Published:
    01 December 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_3-1

Search

Navigation