Basalt Seafloor

Farther down basalt that doesn t erupt hardens in dikes stacked vertically like cards in a deck.

Basalt seafloor.

Seafloor basalt interaction between cold seawater and hot mafic ultramafic rocks in the 65 000 km long oceanic spreading ridge system is likely the largest active metamorphic system on the planet. ˈ b æ s ɔː l t ˈ b æ s əl t is a mafic extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of lava rich in magnesium and iron exposed at or very near the surface of a terrestrial planet or a moon. The magnetism of mid ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century. Sub seafloor basalts are very common on earth and enable co 2 mineralization as a long term storage mechanism permanently sequestering the carbon.

Once formed in the deep crust basalt magma wants to rise and at the center of the mid ocean ridge it oozes onto the seafloor where it rapidly solidifies in the ice cold water in the form of lava pillows. Located on the eastern flank of the east pacific rise dorado outcrop is a site of low temperature thioprofundum lithotrophicum suggesting carbon and. As the magma and lava cool at seafloor spreading centers whatever magnetic field is present get ingrained into the rock. The carbonsafe cascadia project team is conducting a pre feasibility study to evaluate technical and nontechnical aspects of collecting and storing 50 mmt of co 2 in a safe ocean basalt reservoir offshore from washington state and british columbia.

Because of seafloor spreading the metasomatic products cover a major part of the planet and therefore in term of area are the most extensive of. Every so often it has occurred over 170 times over the past 100 million years the poles will suddenly switch. Basalt is a dark colored fine grained igneous rock composed mainly of plagioclase and pyroxene minerals. A flood basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava flood basalt provinces such as the deccan traps of india are often called traps after the swedish word trappa meaning stairs due to the characteristic stairstep geomorphology of many associated landscapes.

The ocean plates spread and grow in opposite directions so rocks that are equidistance from the center have the same magnetic polarity and age. Areas of exposed basalt along mid ocean ridges and at seafloor outcrops serve as conduits of fluid flux into and out of a subsurface ocean and microbe mineral interactions can influence alteration reactions at the rock water interface. More than 90 of all volcanic rock on earth is basalt and the eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20.