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| Chain Fracture Zone | |
|---|---|
| Name | Chain Fracture Zone |
| Type | fracture zone |
| Location | South Atlantic Ocean |
| Country | International waters |
Chain Fracture Zone. The Chain Fracture Zone is an oceanic fracture zone in the South Atlantic Ocean, situated along the passive continental margin between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the African and South American plates, and is noted for its transform faulting, seafloor morphology, and role in studies by institutions such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, British Antarctic Survey, and German Research Centre for Geosciences. Its investigations have linked research from expeditions like RV Knorr cruises, data from GEBCO, and analyses published by journals such as Nature, Science, and Geology.
The Chain Fracture Zone lies in international waters off the coasts of Brazil and Namibia, extending from the vicinity of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge toward abyssal plains including the Sierra Leone Rise and the Rio Grande Rise, and has been characterized in atlases by NOAA and surveys by British Admiralty. The feature has been referenced in regional syntheses alongside comparisons to the Romanche Fracture Zone, Vema Fracture Zone, and Walvis Ridge and discussed at conferences of the American Geophysical Union and European Geosciences Union.
The Chain Fracture Zone exhibits transform fault segments, fracture scars, and offset spreading centers that record relative motions between the African Plate and the South American Plate, with crustal fabric aligned to the paleo-spreading directions preserved in magnetic anomalies cataloged by Vine–Matthews–Morley studies and compiled by researchers affiliated with Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer. Lithologies sampled by dredging and drilling during programs such as Deep Sea Drilling Project and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program include altered basaltic crust, serpentinized peridotite, and fractured gabbros, contributing to models by geoscientists from University of Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of São Paulo.
Situated at the conjugate margin between the South American Plate and the African Plate, the Chain Fracture Zone accommodated transform motion during Cretaceous and Cenozoic spreading episodes recorded in plate reconstructions by W. Jason Morgan-influenced models and rotations used in datasets curated by Paleomap Project and GPlates. Interaction with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and episodic ridge jumps documented in literature associated with researchers from University of Cambridge and Geological Survey of Brazil have implications for the segmentation of the ridge and comparisons to transform systems such as the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone and the Sørgard Fracture Zone.
Seismic studies across the Chain Fracture Zone using instruments from International Seismological Centre, ocean-bottom seismometers deployed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Ifremer, and OBS networks coordinated with IRIS have imaged transform fault rupture behavior, microseismicity clusters, and low-frequency earthquakes similar to observations near the Azores Triple Junction and the Mariana Trench. Gravity and magnetic surveys conducted by USGS teams and shipborne geophysical campaigns using equipment from Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory have constrained crustal thickness and fracture geometry, with results reported at meetings of the American Geophysical Union and in proceedings of the International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences.
Biological surveys near transform scarps and fracture highs have revealed communities that are compared in biodiversity studies to those on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Galápagos Rift, and Juan de Fuca Ridge, with faunal lists compiled by specialists affiliated with Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Hydrothermal activity associated with serpentinized peridotite exposures and diffuse flow has been investigated for chemosynthetic ecosystems by teams from Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and Australian National University, drawing parallels to vents documented at the East Pacific Rise and the Lucky Strike hydrothermal field.
Mapping of the Chain Fracture Zone has progressed through multibeam bathymetry campaigns using vessels such as RV Endeavour, hull-mounted systems developed by Kongsberg Maritime, and remote sensing products from GEBCO and the National Geophysical Data Center. Submersible dives by Alvin and remotely operated vehicle operations by ROV Jason and ROV Victor 6000 have sampled outcrops and biological assemblages, complementing magnetotelluric and seismic-reflection profiles acquired by collaborative projects involving NOAA, Ifremer, and the European Research Council.
Human activity in the Chain Fracture Zone has been primarily scientific, with historical contributions from expeditions of the Challenger legacy, Cold War-era geophysical surveys by agencies like NOAA and US Navy, and modern multinational collaborations under frameworks involving UNESCO and marine geoscience consortia such as the International Ocean Discovery Program. Ongoing research priorities set by institutions including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and British Antarctic Survey focus on tectonics, biodiversity, and deep-sea mineral potential, while discussions at the United Nations and regional bodies consider governance for activities related to seabed resources.
Category:Fracture zones