N.I. Gurevich1, S.A. Merkouriev2

1SPb Laboratory of the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 190121
2Institute of Terrestrial Magnetizm, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences, SPb Filial, St. Petersburg, 199034

The comparison of morphological and geophysical data of the Reykjanes Ridge axis with the data of the areas of the fast spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR) and the slow spreading Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR) being far from hotspot has been fulfilled. The object of the comparison is determination the influence of the Iceland hotspot on the Reykjanes Ridge axial data. It has been revealed that distinctive features of the Reykjanes Ridge unusual to the EPR and MAR are: oblique spreading connected with the Ridge axis headed for the hotspot; monotonous increase of the crustal thickness accompanied by decrease of the mantle Bouguer anomaly and by a general shallowing of the seafloor towards the Iceland; local variations of the floor depth; absence of clear segmentation. Local changes of the crustal thickness and of the mantle Bouguer anomaly in the Reykjanes Ridge axis are as small as in the EPR axis but unlike to the MAR axis. Crustal magmatic chamber discovered at the southern Reykjanes Ridge that absent at the MAR.

Keywords: Reykjanes Ridge, hotspot, axis, morphological, geophysical data.