Marine Geology

Salahuddin Husein

Dept. of Geological Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada

2009
01. Introduction
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Mapping the Oceans
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Mapping the Oceans

This map shows the geographic limits of the four major oceans and many of the various
seas of the world.
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Depth Measurement
1. Before the early 20th century  line sounding
2. In the 1920s  echo-sounder
The ship transmits a series of acoustic pulses through the water, which are reflected
from the sea-floor and received as echoes (assumption: the speed of sound in
seawater is standardized to 1500 m/s).

The leadsman An echo-sounder record

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Mapping the Ocean Floors

Diagram showing how echo sounding and seismic profiling are used to study the
seafloor. Some of the energy generated at the energy source is reflected from various
horizons back to the suface where it is detected by hydrophones.
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Mapping the Ocean Floors
(a) GLORIA (Geological Long Range Incline
Asdic) scans 30 km width of sea-floor to
either side of its track.
(b) TOBI (Towed Ocean Bottom Instrument)
scans 3 km width of sea-floor to either side
of its track.

Image of a side scan sonar

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Underwater Geology
• Before 1930: dredging
• The 2nd world war: geophysical investigations
• 1960s – 1970s: plate tectonic revolution
• 1960s: Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP)  Glomar Challenger
• 1963: submersible for ‘fieldwork’
• 1985: Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)  JOIDES Resolution

The JOIDES Resolution is The submersible Alvin is used for observation and
capable of drilling the deep sampling of the deep seafloor.
seafloor.
02. The Shape of Ocean Basins
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Basic Concepts of Plate Tectonics

Vertically exagerated diagram showing the basic concepts of plate tectonics.

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Basic Concepts of Plate Tectonics

The world pattern of plates, ocean ridges, trenches and transform faults in relation to
earthquake epicentres indicated by purple dots. The arrow length corresponds to a
relative velocity of 5 cm/yr.
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Basic Concepts of Plate Tectonics

The sequence of magnetic anomalies preserved within the oceanic crust on both sides
of an oceanic ridge is formed when basaltic magma intrudes and cools below the Curie
point and records Earth's magnetic polarity at the time. Seafloor spreading splits the
previously formed crust in half so that it moves away from the oceanic ridge. Repeated
intrusions record of normal and reversed polarity. The magnetic anomalies are recorded
by a magnetometer, which measures the strength of the magnetic field.
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The Main Features of Ocean Basins

The distribution of levels on the Earth’s surface: histogram (a) and the hypsographic
curve (b)
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The Main Features of Ocean Basins

Topographic profile to show the surface of the Earth between South America and Africa.
Vertical exaggeration x 100.
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Continental Margins: Passive Margins

One possible configuration of an aseismic (or passive) continental margin, showing the
continental rise in relation to shelf and slope.
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Continental Margins: Passive Margins

A seismic-reflection profile across the western continental slope and continental rise of
Africa, shows that the profile of several submarine canyons near upper part of the slope
and the thick accummulation of undeformed sediments on the continental margin. The
continental slope merges into the adjacent abyssal plains, which cover the abyssal hills.
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Continental Margins: Passive Margins

Submarine fans formed by the deposition of sediments carried down submarine canyons
by turbidity currents. Much of the continental rise is composed of overlapping submarine
fans.
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Continental Margins: Passive Margins

Submarine cable breaks caused by an earthquake-generated turbidity current south of

Newfoundland. This profile of the seafloor shows the locations of the cables and the
times at which they were severed. The vertical dimension in this profile is highly
exaggerated. The profile labeled 'no vertical exaggeration' shows what the seafloor
actually looks like in this area.
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Continental Margins: Active Margins

A seismic-reflection profile across

the central part of the Aleutian
Trench, shows that the steep flank
of the trench alongside the
Aleutian island arc (right) and the
gentle slope toward the ocean
basin. The trench is the surface
expression of a subducting plate.
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Continental Margins: Active Margins

(b)

a) The western margin of South America, showing segments of

the Peru – Chile Trench that are deeper than 5.5 km. The red
dots are active volcanoes.
b) The vertical broken lines indicate the position of the deepest
part of the trench corresponding to the blue line in (a). The
(a) vertical exaggeration is x 25.
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Continental Margins: Active Margins

A seismic reflection profile (with line interpretation) across the Middle America Trench
(just north of the Peru-Chile Trench), showing extensional faulting downwards into the
trench on the outer wall, and thrust-faulting within the accretionary prism forming the
inner wall. The vertical exaggeration is x 1.5.
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Ocean Ridges: Ridge Topography

Representative east-west topographic (bathymetric) profiles across the Mid-Atlantic

Ridge (a) (spreading rate: 1-2 cm/yr) and across the East Pacific Rise (b) (spreading
rate: 6-8 cm/yr).
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Ocean Ridges: Ridge Topography

Spreading rate helps control many features of an oceanic ridge. Fast-spreading ridges,
such as the Pacific ridge, usually have gentle slopes and lack of a prominent rift valley.
Slow-spreading ridges, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, have steeper flanks and a
prominent rift valley.
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Ocean Ridges: Ridge Topography

A seismic-reflection profile across the mid-Atlantic Ridge, at 44o north latitude, shows
that the crest of the ridge is marked by a deep rift valley that can be traced along the
entire length of the ridge. Sediment is thickest down the flanks of the ridge, but it hins
rapidly near the crest. The idealized diagram of the ridge was based on a series of
profiles.
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Ocean Ridges: Age-Depth Relationships
Observed and theoritical
relationships between the
depth to the top of the
oceanic crust and its age.
The solid line is a best-fit
curve through observed
points.
The dashed line is a
theoritical elevation curve,
calculated on the
assumption that an increase
of depth with age is caused
by the thermal contraction of
the lithosphere as the plate
cools on moving away from
the ridge axis.
Magnetic anomaly numbers
refer to the linear magnetic
stripes on the ocean floor,
which are arranged
symmetrically about ridge
axis.
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Transform Faults and Fracture Zones

Both transform faults (heavy lines) and their inactive extensions, fracture zones (dashed
lines), are ‘small circles’ centred on the pole of relative rotation of the two plates.
The spreading rate is related to the angular rate of plate separation and distance from
the rotation pole. Spreading rates therefore increase gradually with distance from the
rotation pole, as indicated by different lengths of arrows.
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Transform Faults and Fracture Zones

A seismic-reflection profile across the Murray Fracture Zone, in the eastern Pacific
Ocean, shows that the fracture is expressed by a pronounced vertical cliff that separates
areas of contrasting topography. On the left side of the fault, seamounts are abundant.
To the right, the seafloor is relatively smooth and featureless. Note how this contrast in
topography on the block diagram is produced by strike-slip faults. Bote the seismic
profile is parallel to the front of the idealized block diagram.
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Transform Faults and Fracture Zones

A large-offset transform fault (a slow-shearing rate) has a narrow zone of deformation.

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Transform Faults and Fracture Zones

A small-offset transform fault (a high-shearing rate) has a wide zone of deformation.

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The Deep Ocean Floor: Abyssal Plains

A topographic profile across an abyssal plain and continental rise and slope.

A seismic reflection profile across part of the Madeira abyssal plain (north-east Atlantic).
The vertical exaggeration is x 20.
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The Deep Ocean Floor: Abyssal Plains

A seismic-reflection profile across the abyssal floor of the Atlantic Ocean, shows that
abyssal hills buried with sediment, which forms the smooth abyssal plains.
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The Deep Ocean Floor: Seamounts
Seamounts: > 1 km heigth
Abyssal hills: < 1 km heigth
Guyots: flat-topped seamounts.

Topographic profiles across some on-land volcanoes and some seamounts

 shddin © 2007
The Deep Ocean Floor: Seamounts

A seismic-reflection profile across the seamounts in the central Pacific Ocean, shows
that the general configuration of typical seamounts rising above the ocean floor.
Seamounts are submarine volcanoes, which usually occur in groups or chains. Some
rise above sea level to form islands.
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The Deep Ocean Floor: Submarine Volcanoes
Four seamount and
island chains in the
Pacific Ocean. The
youngest volcanoes are
at south-eastern end of
each chain, and the age
of the seamount at the
bend in the Hawaiian-
Emperor Chain is shown.
The age range along is
43 Ma over a distance of
3400 km.
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The Deep Ocean Floor: Submarine Volcanoes

Schematic diagram (not to scale) illustrating how a volcano island chain could be formed
by an oceanic plate moving over a stationary hot spot or mantle plume. The age of the
islands increases towards the left. New island will appear on the right as the motion
continues.
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The Deep Ocean Floor: Aseismic Ridges
These are some prominent and more or less continuous feature traversing the deep
ocean floor, which in some cases rise to more than 3000 m above it.

Example: The remarkably long and straight Ninety-east Ridge in the Indian Ocean.
The available evidence supports a hot-spot mechanism for the origin of these features.
03. The Evolution of Ocean Basins
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Introduction
The Earth’s oldest rock – around 3850 Ma old – include both water-lain sediments
and evidence of ancient oceanic crust. It follows that oceans have been forming since
the beginning of the geological record, and probably before that.

However, the shape of most past ocean basins has to be worked out from
observations of remnants preserved in continental areas. That is because ocean
basins are relatively short-lived features of this planet: no oceanic crust older than
about 180 Ma is known from the present oceans.
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Stages in the Evolution of Ocean Basins

Stage Examples Dominant motions Characteristic features

1. Embryonic East African rift Crustal extension Rift valleys

valleys and uplift

2. Young Red Sea, Gulf of Subsidence and Narrow seas with parallel coasts
Mexico spreading and a central depression

3. Mature Atlantic Ocean Spreading Ocean basin with active mid-ocean

ridge

4. Declining Pacific Ocean Spreading and Ocean basin with active spreading
shrinking axis; also numerous island arcs
and adjacent trenches around
margins
5. Terminal Mediterranian Shrinking and Young mountains
Sea uplift
6. Relict scar Indus suture in Shrinking and Young mountains
the Himalayas uplift
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Stages in the Evolution of Ocean Basins
The history of plate movement during the
last 200 Ma has been reconstructed from
all available geologic and geophysical
data. These mas show the general
directions of movement from the time
Pangea began to break up until the
continents moved to their present
positions.
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Stages in the Evolution of Ocean Basins
Paleogeographic reconstruction, compiled
from topographic, paleoclimatic and
paleomagnetic data. Panthalassa was the
huge ocean that dominated one
hemisphere. Pangea was the
supercontinent in the other hemisphere, of
which Eurasia and Gondwanaland were
two components.
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Stages in the Evolution of Ocean Basins

Stages of continental rifting are shown in this series of diagrams. The major geologic
processes at divergent plate boundaries are tensional stress, block faulting, and basaltic
volcanism.
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The Birth of an Ocean
The East African Rift valleys show where
the continent is being up-arched and pulled
apart. If the spreading continues, the rift
system may evolve into an elongate sea like
the Red Sea to the north.
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The Birth of an Ocean

The thinning of the continental crust beneath the African Rift valleys is indicated by
gravity measurements as shown in this cross section. Beneath the valleys, the top of the
asthenosphere is near the base of the crust, only 25 km below the surface. The East
African Rift valleys represent the first stage of continental rifting.
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The Birth of an Ocean
The Red Sea is a narrow ocean basin
separating Arabia from Africa. Its margins are
steep fault scarps, but much of the Red Sea
is floored by thin continental crust. However,
a narrow zone of oceanic crust extends along
the Red Sea axis through most of its length.
The Red Sea represents the second stage of
continental rifting, in which an ebryonic ocean
develops.
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The Birth of an Ocean

A cross section of the Red Sea illustrates the major structural elements of this stage of
rifting. Continental crust is thinned by movement along a series of curved normal faults.
The thinned continental crust is overlain by a salt layer up to 1 km thick. New oceanic
crust occupies the central part of the rift.
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The Birth of an Ocean

A passive continental margins shows features formed during rifting. Tilted fault blocks
that formed during initial rifting define the margins of continental crust. Continental
sedimentary deposits consisting of alluvial fan conglomerate and playa lake evaporites
may be preserved in narrow grabens. As the continent susides, reefs and associated
beach and lagoon sediments are deposited, and eventually the entire margin is covered
by a thick accummulation of shallow-marine sediment that grades into deep-marine
sediment. Poorly sorted dirty sandstone and shale are deposited by turbidity currents in
the deep water.
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The Major Ocean Basins

The age of the ocean floor, showing strips of floor of different ages derived mainly from
measurements of magnetic anomaly stripes.
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Small Ocean Basins

Small ocean basins originate in several ways. Those in the western Pacific (a) and
western Atlantic (b) developed when island arcs isolated part of the sea from the main
ocean basins. The Mediterranian basin and the Black and Caspian seas (c) represent
remnants of the ancient Tethys sea, which was closed by the convergence of India and
Africa with Europe and Asia.
04. The Structure and Formation of
Oceanic Lithosphere
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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere
Knowledge of the nature of the oceanic crust and upper mantle comes from four main
sources:
1. Geophysical techniques (seismic, magnetic, gravity and heat flow).
2. Examination and measurement of physical properties of rocks by dredging and
coring.
3. Direct observation and photography of the sea-bed using submersibles.
4. Land-based studies of ophiolites.
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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere

Gravity, heat flow, and seismic wave velocities at a

midocean ridge reveal much about the internal structure
and origins of oceanic crust.
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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere
The major rock units in an
ophiolite sequence are
shown in this idealized
diagram.
The uppermost layer
consists of deep-marine
sediments.
Most of the rest of the
crust is made of igneous
rocks.
Pillow basalts and sheeted
dikes form thin layers.
Massive gabbro underlain
by layered gabbro forms
the rest of the crust.
Peridotites, tectonites
deformed in the mantle,
are the lowest rocks found
in some ophiolites.

Ophiolites are thought to be fragments of the ocean floor thrust onto the continents.
Correlations with seismically determined layers of the oceanic crust are shown on the
left.
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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere

The structure of the oceanic crust consists of

four distinct layers.
Layer 1 is a relatively thin sequence of oceanic
sediments, composed of the shells of
microscopic marine organisms mixed with red
clay.
Layer 2 is pillow basalt fed by numerous dikes.
Layer 3 is almost entirely composed of basalt
dikes in vertical sheets.
Layer 4 is gabbro, which is believed to represent
magma that was generated at a spreading
center and cooled slowly at depth.
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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere

Deep-sea muds (layer 1).

Fragment of basaltic lava from layer 2

(crystals too small to see because of
rapid cooling after eruption onto the sea-
floor).
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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere

Fragment of basaltic dyke from layer

2 (discernible crystals, a fraction of a
mm in size, indicative of less rapid
cooling than the lava).

Gabbro from layer 3 (large crystals,

several mm across, as a result of slow
cooling and crystallization at depth).
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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere

Layered gabbro in the Oman ophiolite

appears to have a structure like
sedimentary rocks. Early-formed crystals
rich in iron and magnesium settle to the
base of the magma chamber and
accumulate in distinct layers. Some
layers are graded, and others show
cross-bedding.

Peridotite from layer 4.

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The Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere

Pillow basalt along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Little or no sediment covers the basalt
because this part of the seafloor is very young. The large elliptical pillow is
approximately 1 m long.
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The Formation of Oceanic Lithosphere
The axes of the ocean
ridge systems are the most
active volcanic zones on
Earth, where spreading
axes generate new oceanic
lithisphere at rates of
between 10 and 200 km
per million years (1-20
cm/yr).
The total volume of oceanic
crust (layer 2 + layer 3)
produced at spreading
axes has averaged in the
region of 16-26 km3 per
year throughout the past
150 Ma.
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The Formation of Oceanic Lithosphere

The horizontal layering of the crust is not the result of simple superposition, but results
from spreading during lateral growth of pillow basalts, sheeted dikes, and gabbro.
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The Formation of Oceanic Lithosphere

Magma forms by decompression melting under ocean ridges. The black line is the
beginning-of-melting curve (the solidus) for mantle peridotite. The blue arrow shows the
temperature-pressure path followed by mantle that rises directly below the oceanic
ridge. When conditions in the upwelling mantle cross the beginning-of-melting curve,
basaltic magma is produced at about 30 km depth. The melt can rise upward to form the
basaltic crust of the ocean basins.
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The Formation of Oceanic Lithosphere
An idealized cross
section of a mid-
oceanic ridge shows
that hot mantle rises
and then moves
laterally. As it rises,
pressure decreases
and partial melting
occurs. The less-dense
droplets of lava rise
buoyantly and collect
into a chamber. Heat is
extracted from the roof
of the chamber by
conduction and by
convection of seawater
thorugh the hot,
permeable crust.

The magma in the chamber consequently cools and crystallizes along the floor and walls of the
chamber to form gabbro. As the roof is stretched by plate divergence, sheeted dikes propagate to
the surface. The magma erupts to form pillow basalts that add to the roof of the chamber and
thicken the crust. Small shields and fissure-fed flows cap the volcanic system.The hydrothermal
fluids flow through small vents along the fissure systems to form submarine hot springs that cool as
they mix with the surrounding seawater. Sulfides and other minerals dissolved in the fluid crystallize
as the fluid cools and changes composition, and mounds of these minerals form.