Bathymetry of Explorer Ridge area, collected between 1980 and 1984. Bathymetry is contoured at a 200 meter interval. The inset shows the ridge location. The open white circle represents the approximately location of the Magic Mountain vent site.

Pillow lavas and breccia overlain with slabby pieces of sulfide formed from hydrothermal venting on the east side of the Southern Explorer Ridge.

Bathymetry image showing the crest of Southern Explorer Ridge. Purple and dark blue colors indicate deepest depths.

The Explorer Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary located about 241 km (150 mi) west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. A mid-ocean ridge or mid-oceanic ridge is an underwater Mountain range typically having a valley known as a Rift running along its axis formed by Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere Vancouver Island is a large Island in British Columbia, Canada, one of several North American regions named after George Vancouver, the British British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page It lies at the northern extremity of the Pacific spreading axis. To its east is the Explorer Plate, which together with the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Gorda Plate to its south, is what remains of the once-vast Farallon Plate which has been largely subducted under the North American Plate. The Explorer Plate is an oceanic Tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. The Juan de Fuca Plate, named after the explorer, is a Tectonic plate arising from the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and subducting under the northerly The Gorda Plate, located beneath the Pacific Ocean off the coast of northern California, is one of the northern remnants of the Farallon Plate. The Farallon Plate was an ancient Oceanic plate, which began Subducting under the west coast of the North American Plate &mdash then located in modern In Geology, a subduction zone is an area on Earth where two tectonic plates meet and move towards one another with one sliding underneath the other The North American Plate is a Tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland and part of Siberia. The Explorer Ridge consists of one major segment, the Southern Explorer Ridge, and several smaller segments. It runs northward from the Queen Charlotte Triple Junction, a point where the Nootka Fault, the Sovanco Fracture Zone and the Juan de Fuca Ridge meet. The Queen Charlotte Triple Junction is a geologic Triple junction where three Tectonic plates meet the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate The Nootka Fault is an active Transform fault located off Nootka Island, near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The Sovanco Fracture Zone is a right lateral-moving Transform fault and associated Fracture zone located offshore of Vancouver Island in Canada The Juan de Fuca Ridge is a Tectonic spreading center located off the coasts of the state of Washington in the United States and the province

Geology

This divergent boundary first formed about 5-7 million years ago when the northern end of the Juan de Fuca Plate broke off along the Nootka Fault to form the Explorer Plate. The Juan de Fuca Plate, named after the explorer, is a Tectonic plate arising from the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and subducting under the northerly The Nootka Fault is an active Transform fault located off Nootka Island, near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The Explorer Plate is an oceanic Tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. This apparently had some important ramifications for regional geologic evolution. When this change was completed, Cascade Arc volcanism from Northern California to southwestern British Columbia returned and the present-day Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains started to form. The Cascade Volcanoes (also known as the Cascade Volcanic Arc or the Cascade Arc) are a number of Volcanoes in a Volcanic arc in western Northern California is the northern portion of the US state of California. The Olympic Mountains are a Mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States. ^[1]

The oceanic crust is moving away from the Explorer Ridge to either side. Oceanic crust is the part of Earth's Lithosphere that surfaces in the Ocean basins On the eastern side the eastward moving Explorer Plate is being subducted under the North American Plate. The North American Plate is a Tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland and part of Siberia. The belt of volcanoes along the Pacific Ranges are the direct results of this collision. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the The Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. The western side of the Explorer Ridge is associated with the northwest trending Pacific Plate which has formed the Queen Charlotte Fault, an active transform fault along the coast of British Columbia and southeast Alaska. The Pacific Plate is an oceanic Tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean. The Queen Charlotte Fault is an active Transform fault, located between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate, Canada's equivalent of the A transform fault is a fault which runs along the boundary of a Tectonic plate. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent

Notable features along the ridge

The Explorer Ridge includes a deep rift valley which runs along the axis of the ridge along nearly its entire length. A rift valley is a linear-shaped lowland between highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic Rift or fault. This rift marks the actual boundary adjacent tectonic plates, where magma from the mantle reaches the seafloor, erupting as lava and producing new crustal material for the plates. Magma (Plurals magmas and magmata) is molten rock that sometimes forms beneath the surface of the Earth (or any other Terrestrial planet The mantle is a part of an Astronomical object. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other Terrestrial planets, is Chemically divided Lava is molten rock expelled by a Volcano during an eruption When first expelled from a volcanic vent it is a Liquid at Temperatures

Before 2002 Explorer Ridge was the least explored of the northeast Pacific spreading centers, even though it was known to have robust hydrothermal activity and is seismically active. Seismology (from Greek grc σεισμός seismos, "earthquake" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of Earthquakes ^[2] Along the Southern Explorer Ridge lies a large hydrothermal vent area called Magic Mountain. A hydrothermal vent is a Fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated Water issues Magic Mountain is a large long-lived Hydrothermal vent site on the southern Explorer Ridge, located about 150 miles west of Vancouver Island, British It is an unusual hydrothermal site, with its off-axis location and relatively long-lived activity. The source of the hydrothermal fluid that fuels Magic Mountain probably rises along fault systems associated with a recent episode of rifting that, in turn, followed a massive outpouring of lava. ^[3] These vents are forming seafloor massive sulfide deposits on the ocean floor. Seafloor massive sulfide deposits or SMS deposits are modern equivalents of ancient Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits or VMS deposits Many strange deep-water creatures have been found here. ^[4]

See also

• Volcanism in Canada
• Geology of the Pacific Northwest
• Sovanco Fracture Zone
• Juan de Fuca Ridge
• Gorda Ridge

References