Oceanic plates are continually manufactured at mid-ocean spreading ridges. But exactly what processes go on at these ridges? It turns out that it depends on what type of ridge it is—fast-spreading or slow-spreading. And that our traditional view of vanishingly thin plate thickness at ridge axes is inaccurate. Mathilde Cannat describes our modern understanding of mid-ocean ridges and the observations that led us there. Mathilde Cannat is a research director at the Institut de Physique du Globe of Paris. Her research on mid-ocean ridges has fundamentally changed our understanding of the geological processes that create new oceanic crust at these ridges. For podcast illustrations and more about Geology Bites, go to geologybites.com.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related