Curry Scott

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Curry
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Scott
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  • Article
    Development and evolution of detachment faulting along 50 km of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 16.5°N
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2014-12-05) Smith, Deborah K. ; Schouten, Hans A. ; Dick, Henry J. B. ; Cann, Johnson R. ; Salters, Vincent J. M. ; Marschall, Horst R. ; Ji, Fuwu ; Yoerger, Dana R. ; Sanfilippo, Alessio ; Parnell-Turner, Ross ; Palmiotto, Camilla ; Zheleznov, Alexei ; Bai, Hailong ; Junkin, Will ; Urann, Ben ; Dick, Spencer ; Sulanowska, Margaret ; Lemmond, Peter ; Curry, Scott
    A multifaceted study of the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) at 16.5°N provides new insights into detachment faulting and its evolution through time. The survey included regional multibeam bathymetry mapping, high-resolution mapping using AUV Sentry, seafloor imaging using the TowCam system, and an extensive rock-dredging program. At different times, detachment faulting was active along ∼50 km of the western flank of the study area, and may have dominated spreading on that flank for the last 5 Ma. Detachment morphologies vary and include a classic corrugated massif, noncorrugated massifs, and back-tilted ridges marking detachment breakaways. High-resolution Sentry data reveal a new detachment morphology; a low-angle, irregular surface in the regional bathymetry is shown to be a finely corrugated detachment surface (corrugation wavelength of only tens of meters and relief of just a few meters). Multiscale corrugations are observed 2–3 km from the detachment breakaway suggesting that they formed in the brittle layer, perhaps by anastomosing faults. The thin wedge of hanging wall lavas that covers a low-angle (6°) detachment footwall near its termination are intensely faulted and fissured; this deformation may be enhanced by the low angle of the emerging footwall. Active detachment faulting currently is limited to the western side of the rift valley. Nonetheless, detachment fault morphologies also are present over a large portion of the eastern flank on crust >2 Ma, indicating that within the last 5 Ma parts of the ridge axis have experienced periods of two-sided detachment faulting.
  • Article
    The evolution of seafloor spreading behind the tip of the westward propagating Cocos-Nazca spreading center
    (American Geophysical Union, 2020-05-11) Smith, Deborah K. ; Schouten, Hans A. ; Parnell-Turner, Ross ; Klein, Emily M. ; Cann, Johnson R. ; Dunham, Charles ; Alodia, Gabriella ; Blasco, Iker ; Wernette, Benjamin ; Zawadzki, Dominik ; Latypova, Elvira ; Afshar, Sara ; Curry, Scott
    At the Galapagos triple junction in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, the Cocos‐Nazca spreading center does not meet the East Pacific Rise (EPR) but, instead, rifts into 0.4 Myr‐old lithosphere on the EPR flank. Westward propagation of Cocos‐Nazca spreading forms the V‐shaped Galapagos gore. Since ~1.4 Ma, opening at the active gore tip has been within the Cocos‐Galapagos microplate spreading regime. In this paper, bathymetry, magnetic, and gravity data collected over the first 400 km east of the gore tip are used to examine rifting of young lithosphere and transition to magmatic spreading segments. From inception, the axis shows structural segmentation consisting of rifted basins whose bounding faults eventually mark the gore edges. Rifting progresses to magmatic spreading over the first three segments (s1–s3), which open between Cocos‐Galapagos microplate at the presently slow rates of ~19–29 mm/year. Segments s4–s9 originated in the faster‐spreading (~48 mm/year) Cocos‐Nazca regime, and well‐defined magnetic anomalies and abyssal hill fabric close to the gore edges show the transition to full magmatic spreading was more rapid than at present time. Magnetic lineations show a 20% increase in the Cocos‐Nazca spreading rate after 1.1 Ma. The near‐axis Mantle Bouguer gravity anomaly decreases eastward and becomes more circular, suggesting mantle upwelling, increasing temperatures, and perhaps progression to a developed melt supply beneath segments. Westward propagation of individual Cocos‐Nazca segments is common with rates ranging between 12 and 54 mm/year. Segment lengths and lateral offsets between segments increase, in general, with distance from the tip of the gore.