Abstract
A 250 km2 area of abyssal hills in the vicinity of 14°N, 126°W (between the Clarion and Clipperton Fracture Zones in the Equatorial Pacific) was surveyed in detail using an instrument package towed close to the deep sea floor, the MPL Deep Tow device. Both topography and near bottom magnetic field are lineated perpendicular to the major fracture zones. Except for a few localized depressions, the sediment surface is generally smooth and of low relief with maximum elevation differences of 200 m and slopes of six degrees. Several small graben-like troughs and depressions were observed, most of them near the crest of one abyssal hill. The largest trough is two kilometers long, 250 m wide and 50 m deep with steep sides (>30°). These troughs are tentatively interpreted as the result of tensional separation at the tops of the hills caused by down-slope creep and consolidation of the pelagic sediments.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Andrews, J. E.: 1971, Abyssal Hills as Evidence of Transcurrent Faulting on North Pacific Fracture Zones’, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 82, 463–470.
Anonymous: 1968, ‘Metrication for Scientific Journals, Amer. Sci. 56, 159–164.
Atwater, T. M. and Mudie, J. D.: 1971, ‘Lineation Symmetry and Magnetization of Small Features on the Gorda Rise’ (Abstract), Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union 52, 237.
Chase, T. E., Menard, H. W., and Mammerickx, J.: 1971, ‘Topography of the North Pacific’, IMR Technical Report Series TR-14, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.
Ewing, M., Horn, D., Sullivan, L., Aitken, T., and Thorndike, E.: 1971, ‘Photographing Manganese Nodules on the Ocean Floor’, Oceanology International, December, 27–32.
Francheteau, J., Harrison, C. G. A., Sclater, J. G., and Richards, M. L.: 1970, ‘Magnetization of Pacific Seamounts: A Preliminary Polar Curve for the Northeastern Pacific’, J. Geophys. Res. 75, 2035–2061.
Hays, J. D., Cook, H. E., III, Jenkins, D. G., Cook, F. M., Fuller, J. T., Goll, R. M., Milow, E. D., and Orr, W. N.: 1972, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project IX, Washington (U.S. Goverment Printing Office), Chapter 4, Site 78, p. 209.
Hays, J. D., Saito, T., Opdyke, N. D., and Burckle, L. H.: 1969, ‘Pliocene-Pleistocene Sediments of the Equatorial Pacific: Their Paleomagnetic, Biostratigraphic and Climatic Record’, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 80, 1481–1514.
Heirtzler, J. R., Dickson, G. O., Herron, E. M., Pitman, W. C.III, and Le Pichon, X.: 1968, ‘Marine Magnetic Anomalies, Geomagnetic Field Reversals and Motions of the Ocean Floor and Continents’, J. Geophys. Res. 73, 2119–2136.
Herron, E. M.: 1972, ‘Sea-Floor Spreading and the Cenozoic History of the East Central Pacific’, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 83, 1671–1692.
IAGA Working Commission 2, Working Group 4, Analysis of the Geomagnetic Field, 1969, International Geomagnetic Reference Field 1965, J. Geophys. Res. 74, 4407–4408.
Jahn, A.: 1964, ‘Slopes Morphological Features Resulting from Gravitation’, in P. Birot, P. Macar, and H. Mortenson (eds.), Supplement band 5 of Fortschritte der Internationalen Hangforschung, Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, 59–72.
Johnson, D. A. and Johnson, T. C.: 1970, ‘Sediment Redistribution by Bottom Currents in the Central Pacific’, Deep Sea Res. 17, 157–169.
Johnson, D. A.: 1972, ‘Ocean Floor Erosion in the Equatorial Pacific’, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 83, No. 10 (in press).
Klitgord, K. D., Mudie, J. D., and Normark, W. R.: 1972, ‘Magnetic Lineations Observed near the Ocean Floor and Possible Implications on the Geomagnetic Chronology of the Gilbert Epoch’, Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc. 28, 35–48.
Larson, R. L.: 1971, ‘Near-Bottom Geologic Studies of the East Pacific Rise Crest’, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 82, 823–842.
Lister, C. R. B.: 1971, ‘Crustal Magnetization and Sedimentation Near Two Small Seamounts West of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, Northeast Pacific, J. Geophys. Res. 76, 4824–4841.
Loughridge, M. S.: 1968, ‘Fine-Scale Topography and Magnetic Anomalies of the Deep-Sea Floor off Southern California’, SIO Reference 68-2, Scripps Institurion of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, pp. 67: also available 1967 (Ph. D. Thesis), Department of Geology, Harvard University.
Luyendyk, B. P.: 1970, ‘Origin and History of Abyssal Hills in the Northeast Pacific Ocean’, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 81, 2237–2260.
Luyendyk, B. P., Mudie, J. D., and Harrison, C. G. A.: 1968, ‘Lineations of Magnetic Anomalies in the Northeast Pacific Observed Near the Ocean Floor’, J. Geophys. Res. 73, 5951–5958.
Mason, R. G. and Raff, A. D.: 1961, Magnetic Survey off the West Coast of North America, 32° N Latitude to 42° N Latitude’, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 72, 1259–1266.
McGehee, M. S. and Boegeman, D. E.: 1966, ‘MPL Acoustic Transponder’, Rev. Sci. Instr. 37, 1450–1455.
Menard, H. W. and Mammerickx, J.: 1967, ‘Abyssal Hills, Magnetic Anomalies and the East Pacific Rise’, Earth Planetary Sci. Letters 2, 465–472.
Moore, D. G.: 1961, ‘The Free Corer, Sediment Sampling without Wire and Winch’, J. Sediment Petrol. 31, 627–630.
Moore, T. C.Jr. and Heath, G. R.: 1967, ‘Abyssal Hills in the Central Equatorial Pacific: Detailed Structure of the Sea Floor and Subbottom Reflectors’, Marine Geology 5, 161–179.
National Oceanographic Data Center: 1968, ‘The Variation of Sound Velocity and Temperature in the North Pacific’, National Oceanographic Data Center, Washington, D.C. 1, 762.
Pitman, W. C.III and Heirtzler, J. R.: 1966, ‘Magnetic Anomalies Over the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge’, Science 154, 1164–1171.
Sachs, P. L. and Raymond, S. O.: 1965, A New Unattached Sediment Sampler: J. Marine Res. 23, 44–53.
Schouten, J. A.: 1971, ‘A Fundamental Analysis of Magnetic Anomalies Over Oceanic Ridges’, Marine Geophys. Res. 1, 111–114.
Scientific, Staff: 1971, ‘Deep Sea Drilling Project, Leg 16’, Geotimes 16, 12–14.
Spiess, F. N., Luyendyk, B. P., Larson, R. L., Normark, W. R., and Mudie, J. D.: 1969, ‘Detailed Geophysical Studies on the Northern Hawaiian Arch Using a Deeply Towed Instrument Package’, Marine Geology 7, 501–527.
Spiess, F. N. and Mudie, J. D.: 1970, ‘Small Scale Topographic and Magnetic Features’, in A. E. Maxwell (ed.), The Sea 4, Part 1, Interscience, N.Y., 205–250.
Tabor, R. W.: 1971, ‘Origin of Ridge-Top Depression by Large-Scale Creep in the Olympic Mounwell (ed.), The Sea 4, Part 1, Interscience, N.Y., pp. 205–250.
Vine, F. J.: 1966, ‘Spreading of the Ocean Floor: New Evidence’, Science 154, 1405–1415.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Contribution of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, new series.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mudie, J.D., Grow, J.A. & Bessey, J.S. A near-bottom survey of lineated abyssal hills in the equatorial pacific. Marine Geophysical Researches 1, 397–411 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286741
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286741