The Mid-Oceanic Ridges

The existing oceans are geologically relatively young. They formed when a large supercontinent (Pangaea) broke apart some 150 Ma ago. The mid-oceanic ridges are narrow belts of submarine mountains marking the boundaries between plates which are moving apart, with new oceanic crust being created at the same time. Under the continents, oceanic crust is subducted. The ocean bottom is an ideal location to study recent geodynamic processes on Earth. This volume combines recent oceanographic data with material on ophiolites, representing the fossil ocean crust.