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The formation of oceanic detachment faults is well established from inactive, corrugated fault planes exposed on sea floor formed along ridges spreading at less than 80 km Myr–1 (refs 1–4). These faults can accommodate extension for up to 1–3 Myr (ref. 5), and are associated with one of the two contrasting modes of accretion operating along the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The first mode is asymmetrical accretion involving an active detachment fault along one ridge flank. The second mode is the well-known symmetrical accretion, dominated by magmatic processes with subsidiary high-angle faulting and the formation of abyssal hills on both flanks. Here we present an examination of ∼2,500 km of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between 12.5 and 35° N, which reveals asymmetrical accretion along almost half of the ridge. Hydrothermal activity identified so far in the study region is closely associated with asymmetrical accretion, which also shows high levels of near-continuous hydroacoustically and teleseismically recorded seismicity. Increased seismicity is probably generated along detachment faults that accommodate a sizeable proportion of the total plate separation. In contrast, symmetrical segments have lower levels of seismicity, which occurs primarily at segment ends. Basalts erupted along asymmetrical segments have compositions that are consistent with crystallization at higher pressures than basalts from symmetrical segments, and with lower extents of partial melting of the mantle. Both seismic evidence and geochemical evidence indicate that the axial lithosphere is thicker and colder at asymmetrical sections of the ridge, either because associated hydrothermal circulation efficiently penetrates to greater depths or because the rising mantle is cooler. We suggest that much of the variability in sea-floor morphology, seismicity and basalt chemistry found along slow-spreading ridges can be thus attributed to the frequent involvement of detachment faults in oceanic lithospheric accretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isotopic compositions of mid-ocean-ridge basalts (MORB) from the Indian Ocean have led to the identification of a large-scale isotopic anomaly relative to Pacific and Atlantic ocean MORB. Constraining the origin of this so-called DUPAL anomaly may lead to a better understanding of the genesis of upper-mantle heterogeneity. Previous isotopic studies have proposed recycling of ancient subcontinental lithospheric mantle or sediments with oceanic crust to be responsible for the DUPAL signature. Here we report Os, Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of Indian MORB from the Central Indian ridge, the Rodriguez triple junction and the South West Indian ridge. All measured samples have higher 187Os188Os ratios than the depleted upper-mantle value and Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic compositions that imply the involvement of at least two distinct enriched components in the Indian upper-mantle. Using isotopic and geodynamical arguments, we reject both subcontinental lithospheric mantle and recycled sediments with oceanic crust as the cause of the DUPAL anomaly. Instead, we argue that delamination of lower continental crust may explain the DUPAL isotopic signature of Indian MORB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]