Mohns Ridge

Map showing the location of the Mohns Ridge and other major geological features of the northernmost Atlantic

The Mohns Ridge is an ultraslow-spreading segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge located to the north of Jan Mayen in the Arctic Ocean.[1] It is bounded to the south by the Jan Mayen fracture zone, and transitions to Knipovich Ridge in the north-east.

Geology

The ridge started forming 53 My ago, as the Greenland Plate and Eurasian Plate started separating. Four separate axial volcanic ridges have been discovered along Mohns Ridge.[2]

Notable features

Several active and non-active hydrothermal vent fields have been located along Mohns Ridge. In 2008, a black smoker vent field named Loki's Castle was discovered along one of the axial volcanic ridges in the area.[3]

The Schulz Bank seamount is located on the northern part of the ridge, as Mohns Ridge transitions into the Knipovich Ridge.[4]

References

1. "Marine Regions · Mohns Ridge (Ridge)". www.marineregions.org. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
2. Reimers, Hauke (2017). The Morphology of the Mohn's Ridge - with Special Focus on Listric and Detachment Faults and their Link to the Formation of Seafloor-massive Sulfides (Master thesis thesis). NTNU.
3. Pedersen, Rolf B.; Rapp, Hans Tore; Thorseth, Ingunn H.; Lilley, Marvin D.; Barriga, Fernando J. A. S.; Baumberger, Tamara; Flesland, Kristin; Fonseca, Rita; Früh-Green, Gretchen L.; Jorgensen, Steffen L. (2010-11-23). "Discovery of a black smoker vent field and vent fauna at the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge". Nature Communications. 1 (1): 126. Bibcode:2010NatCo...1..126P. doi:10.1038/ncomms1124. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 3060606. PMID 21119639.
4. Meyer, H.K.; Davies, A.J.; Roberts, E.M.; Xavier, J.R.; Ribeiro, P.A.; Glenner, H.; Birkely, S.-R.; Rapp, H.T. (January 2023). "Beyond the tip of the seamount: Distinct megabenthic communities found beyond the charismatic summit sponge ground on an arctic seamount (Schulz Bank, Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge)". Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 191: 103920. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103920. hdl:11250/3049728.

Further reading

• Dauteuil, O.; Brun, J.-P. (1996-08-01). "Deformation partitioning in a slow spreading ridge undergoing oblique extension: Mohns Ridge, Norwegian Sea". Tectonics. 15 (4): 870–884. doi:10.1029/95TC03682. ISSN 1944-9194.

71.91375225°N 1.20254893°W / 71.91375225; -1.20254893