Marine Geology

Salahuddin Husein

Dept. of Geological Engineering, Universitas Gadjah

Mada ​2009

01. Introduction
shddin © 2007 ​
Mapping the Oceans
This map shows the geographic limits of the four major
oceans and many of the various ​seas of the world.

shddin © 2007 ​
Mapping the Oceans
shddin © 2007 ​
Depth Measurement
1. Before the early 20​th ​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

shddin © 2007 ​
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.

shddin © 2007 ​
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

shddin ​
Underwater Geology ©​ 2007 ​• Before 1930:
dredging
• The 2​nd ​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 c​ apable
of drilling the deep
sampling of the deep seafloor. ​seafloor.

02. The Shape of Ocean

Basins
shddin © 2007 ​
Basic Concepts of Plate Tectonics
Vertically exagerated diagram showing the basic concepts
of plate tectonics.

shddin © 2007 ​
Basic Concepts of Plate Tectonics
The world pattern of plates, ocean ridges, trenches and
transform faults in relation to e ​ arthquake epicentres
indicated by purple dots. The arrow length corresponds to
a ​relative velocity of 5 cm/yr.

shddin © 2007 ​
Basic Concepts of Plate Tectonics
The sequence of magnetic anomalies preserved within the
oceanic crust on both sides o​ f 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 p​ reviously 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.
shddin © 2007 ​
The Main Features of Ocean Basins

The distribution of levels on the Earth’s surface: histogram

(a) and the hypsographic c ​ urve (b)

shddin © 2007 ​
The Main Features of Ocean Basins
Topographic profile to show the surface of the Earth
between South America and Africa. V ​ ertical exaggeration
x 100.

shddin © 2007 ​
Continental Margins: Passive

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

shddin © 2007 ​
Continental Margins: Passive
Margins

A seismic-reflection profile across the western continental

slope and continental rise of A​ frica, 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 c​ ontinental slope merges into
the adjacent abyssal plains, which cover the abyssal hills.
shddin © 2007 ​
Continental Margins: Passive

Margins

Submarine fans formed by the deposition of sediments

carried down submarine canyons b ​ y turbidity currents.
Much of the continental rise is composed of overlapping
submarine f​ ans.

shddin © 2007 ​
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 t​ imes 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.

shddin © 2007 ​
Continental Margins: Active Margins

A seismic-reflection profile across t​ he central part of the

​ rench, shows that the steep flank of the trench
Aleutian T
alongside the Aleutian island arc (right) and the gentle
slope toward the ocean ​basin. The trench is the surface
expression of a subducting plate.
(a)
part of the trench
shddin © 2007 ​
Continental corresponding to the blue
line in (a). The ​vertical
exaggeration is x 25.
Margins: Active

Margins
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
(b)

shddin © 2007 ​
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.
shddin © 2007 ​
Ocean Ridges: Ridge Topography

Representative east-west topographic (bathymetric)

​ idge (a) (spreading rate:
profiles across the Mid-Atlantic R
1-2 cm/yr) and across the East Pacific Rise (b) (spreading
rate: 6-8 cm/yr).

shddin © 2007 ​
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.

shddin © 2007 ​
Ocean Ridges: Ridge Topography
A seismic-reflection profile across the mid-Atlantic Ridge,
​
at 44​o 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.

shddin © 2007 ​
Ocean Ridges: Age-Depth
Relationships
Observed and theoritical ​relationships between the d ​ epth
to the top of the o ​ ceanic crust and its age. The solid line is
a best-fit ​curve through observed ​points. ​The dashed line
is a t​ heoritical 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 t​ he ridge axis. Magnetic
anomaly numbers r​ efer to the linear magnetic s​ tripes on
the ocean floor, w ​ hich are arranged s​ ymmetrically about
ridge axis.

shddin © 2007 ​
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.
shddin © 2007 ​
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.

shddin © 2007 ​
Transform Faults and Fracture Zones

A large-offset transform fault (​ a slow-shearing rate) has

a narrow zone of deformation.

shddin © 2007 ​
Transform Faults and Fracture Zones
A small-offset transform fault ​(a high-shearing rate) has
a wide zone of deformation.

shddin © 2007 ​
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.

shddin © 2007 ​
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.
shddin © 2007 ​
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.

shddin © 2007 ​
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 o ​ end in the
​ f the seamount at the b
Hawaiian- Emperor Chain is shown. T ​ he age range along
is ​43 Ma over a distance of ​3400 km.

shddin © 2007 ​
The Deep Ocean Floor: Submarine

Volcanoes
Schematic diagram (not to scale) illustrating how a
volcano island chain could be formed b ​ y an oceanic plate
moving over a stationary hot spot or mantle plume. The
age of the i​ slands increases towards the left. New island
will appear on the right as the motion ​continues.

shddin © 2007 ​
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
shddin © 2007 ​
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.

shddin © 2007 ​
Stages in the Evolution of Ocean

Basins
Stage Examples Dominant motions Characteristic features
1. Embryonic East African rift
valleys
Crustal extension ​and uplift
Rift valleys
2. Young Red Sea, Gulf of
Mexico
Subsidence and ​spreading
Narrow seas with parallel coasts ​and a central depression
3. Mature Atlantic Ocean Spreading Ocean basin with
active mid-ocean
ridge
4. Declining Pacific Ocean Spreading and
shrinking
Ocean basin with active spreading axis; also numerous
island arcs ​and adjacent trenches around ​margins ​5.
 Terminal Mediterranian
Sea
Shrinking and ​uplift
Young mountains
6. Relict scar Indus suture in ​the Himalayas
Shrinking and ​uplift
Young mountains

shddin © 2007 ​
Stages in the Evolution of Ocean

Basins
The history of plate movement during the ​last 200 Ma has
been reconstructed from a​ ll 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.

shddin © 2007 ​
Stages in the Evolution of Ocean

Basins
Paleogeographic reconstruction, compiled f​ rom
​ aleomagnetic data.
topographic, paleoclimatic and p
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.

shddin © 2007 ​
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 v​ olcanism.

shddin © 2007 ​
The Birth of an Ocean
The East African Rift valleys ​show where t​ he continent
is being up-arched and pulled a​ part. If the spreading
continues, the rift system may evolve into an elongate sea
like the Red Sea to the north.

shddin © 2007 ​
The Birth of an Ocean

The thinning of the continental crust b ​ eneath the

African Rift valleys is indicated by ​gravity measurements
as shown in this cross section. Beneath the valleys, the
 ​ sthenosphere is near the base of the crust,
top of the a
only 25 km below the surface. The East A ​ frican Rift
valleys represent the first stage of continental rifting.

shddin © 2007 ​
The Birth of an Ocean
The Red Sea ​is a narrow ocean basin s ​ eparating Arabia
from Africa. Its margins are s​ teep 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. T​ he Red Sea represents
the second stage of ​continental rifting, in which an
ebryonic ocean ​develops.

shddin © 2007 ​
The Birth of an Ocean
A cross section of the Red Sea ​illustrates the major
structural elements of this stage of r​ ifting. Continental
crust is thinned by movement along a series of curved
​ he thinned continental crust is overlain by
normal faults. T
a salt layer up to 1 km thick. New oceanic crust occupies
the central part of the rift.

shddin © 2007 ​
The Birth of an Ocean
A passive continental margins s​ hows 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 m ​ ay be preserved
in narrow grabens. As the continent susides, reefs and
associated b ​ each and lagoon sediments are deposited,
and eventually the entire margin is covered b ​ y 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 t​ he deep
water.
shddin © 2007 ​
The Major Ocean Basins

The age of the ocean floor, showing strips of floor of

​ easurements of
different ages derived mainly from m
magnetic anomaly stripes.

shddin © 2007 ​
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