Processed multichannel seismic data along the Galapagos Spreading Center at 91.3W - 95.5W, acquired during the R/V Maurice Ewing survey EW0004 (2000)

Part of the Galapagos Plume-Ridge Interaction Multidisciplinary Experiment (G-Prime), this MCS-OBS survey characterized in detail the oceanic created along the Galapagos Spreading Center at 91.3W - 95.5W. The objectives of the project were to: (1) determine how the compensation of the Galapagos swell is partitioned between variations in crustal thickness and mangle density by measuring crustal thickness along the swell and the degree of melting inferred from the chemistry of basalts, (2) determine if there is a threshold factor that controls the transition from an axial high to a rift valley, (3) determine how the extent of magmatic differentiation of ridge basalts relates to the presence or absence of a melt lens, and (4) determine why the degree of partial melting appears to be lower near the hotspot. Funded by NSF grants OCE98-18632, OCE98-19117, and OCE98-18886.