List of fracture zones

Major fractures zones of the Atlantic can be seen on this ocean depth map

Fracture zones are common features in the geology of oceanic basins. Globally most fault zones are located on divergent plate boundaries on oceanic crust. This means that they are located around mid-ocean ridges and trend perpendicular to them. The term fracture zone is used almost exclusively for features on oceanic crust; similar structures on continental crust are instead termed transform or strike slip faults, a denomination active fracture zones also can have. Some fracture zones have been created by mid-ocean ridge segments that have been subducted and may not longer exist.

Pacific Ocean

Major Pacific trenches (1-10) and fracture zones (11-20): 1. Kermadec 2. Tonga 3. Bougainville 4. Mariana 5. Izu-Ogasawara 6. Japan 7. Kuril–Kamchatka 8. Aleutian 9. Middle America 10. Peru-Chile 11. Mendocino 12. Murray 13. Molokai 14. Clarion 15. Clipperton 16. Challenger 17. Eltanin 18. Udintsev 19. East Pacific Rise (S-shaped) 20. Nazca Ridge

Most fracture zones in the Pacific Ocean originate from large mid-ocean ridges (also called "rises") such as the East Pacific Rise, Chile Rise and Juan de Fuca Ridge. The plates that host the fractures are Nazca, Pacific, Antarctic, Juan de Fuca and Cocos among others. Fracture zones being subducted under Southern and Central America are generally southwest-northeast oriented reflecting the relative motion of Cocos, Nazca and the Antarctic Plates.

Chile Rise

The fracture zones of the Chile Rise trend in a west to east fashion with the most southern ones taking a slightly more southwest to northeast orientation. This non-perpendicular relation to Chile’s coast reflects the oblique subduction of Nazca Plate under southern Chile. West of Chile rise the fracture zones are hosted in the Antarctic Plate. Some fracture zones such as Chile and Valdivia make up large sections of the Nazca-Antarctic Plate boundary.

Map of the Chile Rise and its fractures zones in Nazca and the Antarctic Plates

Name	Minimum length in km	Length of transform boundary in km	Position at Ridge
Chile	2,250 (1,400)	1,100 (680)	35°32′23.78″S 104°37′3.32″W / 35.5399389°S 104.6175889°W
Chiloé	1,750 (1,090)	50 (30)	42°59′42.71″S 83°11′5.08″W / 42.9951972°S 83.1847444°W
Darwin		50 (30)	45°54′28.81″S 76°25′30.96″W / 45.9080028°S 76.4252667°W
Desolación		0
Esmeralda		0	49°06′46.50″S 80°12′32.78″W / 49.1129167°S 80.2091056°W
Guafo	1,550 (960)	280 (170)	44°47′55.49″S 80°15′53.07″W / 44.7987472°S 80.2647417°W
Guamblin	1,300 (810)	70 (40)	45°44′7.07″S 77°27′31.51″W / 45.7352972°S 77.4587528°W
Madre de Dios		0
Mocha	450 (280)	0	39°14′23.82″S 77°22′58.93″W / 39.2399500°S 77.3830361°W
Taitao		0
Tres Montes		0
Valdivia	2,100 (1,300)	650 (400)	41°23′25.45″S 87°23′35.62″W / 41.3904028°S 87.3932278°W

East Pacific Rise

Name	Minimum length in km	Length as plate boundary in km	Coordinates
Easter
Mendaña		0
Nazca		0	19°49′28.10″S 77°35′52.91″W / 19.8244722°S 77.5980306°W
Quiros		0

Galapagos Rise

• Panama

Juan de Fuca and Gorda Ridges

Molokai and Murray fracture zones shown in the list were created by ridge segments that no longer exist.

A map of the Juan de Fuca Plate

• Blanco
• Mendocino
• Molokai
• Murray
• Sovanco

Atlantic Ocean

In the Atlantic Ocean most fracture zones originate from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs from north to south, and are therefore west to east oriented in general. There are about 300 fracture zones, with an average north-south separation of 55 kilometres (34 mi):^[1] two for each degree of latitude. Physically it makes sense to group Atlantic fracture zones into three categories:^[2]

1. Small offset: length of transform fault less than 30 kilometres (19 mi)
2. Medium offset: offset over 30 kilometers
3. Large offset: offset several hundreds of kilometers

Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Northern Hemisphere)

Name	Minimum length in km	Length of transform fault in km	Position at Ridge
Saint Paul[3]	1451	454	0°39′40″N 27°55′52″W / 0.661°N 27.931°W
Saint Peter[3]	333	40	2°31′55″N 31°00′29″W / 2.532°N 31.008°W
Strakhov[3] (formerly:Four North[4])	1814	100	3°55′59″N 32°06′58″W / 3.933°N 32.116°W
Sierra Leone[3]	1111	52	6°13′48″N 33°35′17″W / 6.230°N 33.588°W
Bogdanov[3]	173	84	7°08′06″N 34°21′04″W / 7.135°N 34.351°W
Vernadsky[3]	194	107	7°41′35″N 37°28′59″W / 7.693°N 37.483°W
Doldrums[3]	381	144	8°07′08″N 38°45′00″W / 8.119°N 38.750°W
Arkhangelskiy[3]	691	99	8°51′18″N 39°56′17″W / 8.855°N 39.938°W
Vema[3]	822	300	10°43′34″N 42°19′59″W / 10.726°N 42.333°W
Mercurius[5]		39	12°07′55″N 43°55′26″W / 12.132°N 43.924°W
Marathon[5]		78	12°36′40″N 44°25′48″W / 12.611°N 44.430°W
Fifteen Twenty, also known as Barracuda or Cabo Verde[3]	1195	195[5]	15°19′12″N 45°52′16″W / 15.320°N 45.871°W
Vidal[2]		50	17°49′55″N 46°35′20″W / 17.832°N 46.589°W
Luymes South[2]		30	18°32′28″N 46°27′54″W / 18.541°N 46.465°W
Luymes North[2]		24	18°58′01″N 46°07′41″W / 18.967°N 46.128°W
Snellius[2]		41	20°36′58″N 45°45′22″W / 20.616°N 45.756°W
Kane[3]	1040	150[6]	23°43′05″N 45°34′59″W / 23.718°N 45.583°W
Northern[2]	1040	9	25°41′20″N 45°11′35″W / 25.689°N 45.193°W
Tyro[2]		15	29°21′54″N 43°00′25″W / 29.365°N 43.007°W
Atlantis[3]	843	66	30°04′05″N 42°22′19″W / 30.068°N 42.372°W
Cruiser[2]		9	32°19′23″N 40°11′42″W / 32.323°N 40.195°W
Charis[2]		13	33°03′32″N 39°37′41″W / 33.059°N 39.628°W
Hayes[3]	624	151	33°36′54″N 38°26′20″W / 33.615°N 38.439°W
Oceanographer[3]	751	148	35°08′56″N 35°33′43″W / 35.149°N 35.562°W
Tydeman		21	36°38′28″N 33°27′50″W / 36.641°N 33.464°W
Pico (to the west)[2][3]	719	67	37°28′05″N 31°53′56″W / 37.468°N 31.899°W
East Azores (to the east)[2][3]	758	67	37°28′05″N 31°53′56″W / 37.468°N 31.899°W
Kurchatov[3]	174	20	40°32′13″N 29°27′22″W / 40.537°N 29.456°W
Petrov[3]	74	9	40°32′13″N 29°27′22″W / 40.537°N 29.456°W
Maxwell[3]		21	47°38′10″N 27°31′37″W / 47.636°N 27.527°W
Faraday[3]	506	23	49°42′40″N 28°38′10″W / 49.711°N 28.636°W
Charlie-Gibbs[3]	2000	350[2]	52°37′26″N 33°11′53″W / 52.624°N 33.198°W
Bight[3]	336	23	56°43′16″N 33°47′31″W / 56.721°N 33.792°W
Jan Mayen[3]	374	211	71°22′19″N 9°24′18″E / 71.372°N 9.405°E
Greenland (to the west)[7]	0	365	74°02′N 8°49′E / 74.04°N 8.82°E
Senja (to the east)[7]	0	398	74°02′N 8°49′E / 74.04°N 8.82°E

Fracture zones involved in the early opening of the North Atlantic^[8]

American side	African side
Newfoundland Fracture Zone[9]
Kelvin Fracture Zone	Canary Fracture Zone
Cape Fear Fracture Zone	Cape Verde Fracture Zone
Bahama Fracture Zone	Guinea Fracture Zone

Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Southern Hemisphere)

Name	Minimum length in km	Length of transform fault in km	Position at Ridge
Romanche[3]	2445	950	0°29′S 20°29′W / 0.49°S 20.49°W
Chain[3]	1315	269	1°12′47″S 14°13′44″W / 1.213°S 14.229°W
Ascension[3]	1149	264	6°55′41″S 12°16′59″W / 6.928°S 12.283°W
Bode Verde[3]	3018	232	11°41′10″S 13°56′10″W / 11.686°S 13.936°W
Cardno[3]	1649	87	14°04′34″S 14°03′22″W / 14.076°S 14.056°W
Tetyaev[3]	810	122	16°16′16″S 13°43′08″W / 16.271°S 13.719°W
Saint Helena[3]	1184	19	16°37′01″S 14°20′38″W / 16.617°S 14.344°W
Hotspur[3]	1446	113	17°43′16″S 13°19′44″W / 17.721°S 13.329°W
Martin Vaz[3]	1324	26	18°35′38″S 12°37′59″W / 18.594°S 12.633°W
Rio Grande[3]	1774	156	29°04′52″S 13°04′01″W / 29.081°S 13.067°W
Tristan Da Cunha[3]	1014	26	38°23′17″S 16°47′46″W / 38.388°S 16.796°W
Gough[3]	1057	42	40°38′13″S 16°38′13″W / 40.637°S 16.637°W
Conrad (to the west)[3]	316	0	55°11′06″S 0°07′59″W / 55.185°S 0.133°W
Bouvet (to the east)[3]	198	0	55°11′06″S 0°07′59″W / 55.185°S 0.133°W

Indian Ocean

• Diamantina

Southwest Indian Ridge

• Bouvet Fracture Zone
• Moshesh Fracture Zone
• Islas Orcadas Fracture Zone
• Shaka Fracture Zone
• Dutoit Fracture Zone
• Prince Edward Fracture Zone
• Discovery II Fracture Zone
• Indomed Fracture Zone
• Gallieni Fracture Zone
• Atlantis II Fracture Zone^[10]
• Novara Fracture Zone^[10]
• Melville Fracture Zone^[10]

Carlsberg Ridge

• Owen

Central Indian Ridge

• Mauritius

Lakshadweeo-Chagos Ridge

• Vishnu

Southern Ocean

• Endurance
• Eltanin
• Hero
• Quest
• Shackleton

References

1. Gilman, Larry; Lerner, K. Lee. "Mid-Ocean-Ridges". Water Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
2. Müller, R. Dietmar; Roest, Walter R. (1992). "Fracture Zones in the North Atlantic from Combined Geosat and Seasat Data" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research 97 (B3): 3337–3350. Bibcode:1992JGR....97.3337M. doi:10.1029/91JB02605. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
3. Name from GEBCO gazetteer, position refined by means of etopo2 and sample data of GPlates
4. Udintsev, G.B. (1996). "Equatorial Segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge" (PDF). Unesco. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
5. Roest, W. R.; Collette, B. J. (1986). "The Fifteen Twenty Fracture Zone and the North American - South American plate boundary". Journal of the Geological Society 143: 833–843. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.143.5.0833.
6. Tucholke, Brian E.; Schouten, Hans (1988-03-01). "Kane Fracture Zone". Marine Geophysical Research 10: 1–39. Bibcode:1988MarGR..10....1T. doi:10.1007/BF02424659.
7. "Map with Jan Mayen, Greenland and Senja Fracture Zones". Ocean Drilling Project. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
8. Le Pichon, Xavier; Fox, Paul J. (1971-09-10). "Marginal Offsets, Fracture Zones, and the Early Opening of the North Atlantic". Journal of Geophysical Research 76 (26): 6294–6308. Bibcode:1971JGR....76.6294L. doi:10.1029/JB076i026p06294.
9. Auzende, J.M.; Olivet, J.L.; Bonnin, J. (1970). "Marge du Grand Bank et la fracture de Terre-Neuve". Compt. Rend. (in French) 271: 1063–1066.
10. Patriat, P., Sauter, D., Munschy, M., & Parson, L. (1997). A survey of the Southwest Indian Ridge axis between Atlantis II Fracture Zone and the Indian Ocean Triple Junction: Regional setting and large scale segmentation. Marine Geophysical Researches, 19(6), 457-480.

Sources

• The Global Seafloor Fabric and Magnetic Lineation Data Base Project