EXTENSIONAL FAULTING AND SEGMENTATION OF THE MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE NORTHOF THE KANE FRACTURE-ZONE (24-DEGREES-00'-N TO 24-DEGREES-40'-N)

The combination of multi-beam echo-sounder swath bathymetry and high-r esolution deep-towed sidescan sonar provides a powerful database from which to examine mid-ocean ridge processes. We have used such a databa se, gathered from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge north of the Kane Fracture Zo ne (the MARNOK area), to examine the relationship between tectonic, vo lcanic, and bathymetric segmentation. We have identified structural do mains, with different fault distributions, and neovolcanic segments th at are distinct from the 2nd or 3rd order bathymetric segmentation. Fr om their mutual relationships, a model is proposed for the magmatic ac cretion of oceanic crust at slow spreading ridges that relates the loc al melt supply to the tectonic style. We suggest that these are mutual ly interactive, and determine whether volcanic extrusion along the rid ge is continuous and slow, or episodic and rapid.