Gakkel Ridge

The mid-ocean ridge under the Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Siberia, about 1,800 km long and the slowest-spreading known, under 1 cm a year. Thought non-volcanic until 1999, it has active volcanoes, abundant hot vents and, 4,000 m down, explosive-eruption deposits at a depth where they were thought impossible.

Dated events and their evidence

1950 CE disputed
around 1950: Soviet expeditions confirm the ridge whose existence and approximate position the polar explorer Yakov Gakkel had predicted source
1987 CE mainstream
April 1987: the name Gakkel Ridge is recognised by the international sub-committee for the names of undersea features (SCUFN) source
1999 CE mainstream
scientists working from a nuclear submarine discover active volcanoes on a ridge believed to be non-volcanic source
2001 CE mainstream
summer 2001: an international icebreaker expedition maps and samples the ridge and finds a 300 km central stretch where mantle rock lies in the ridge axis without volcanism, and far more hydrothermal activity than predicted source
2007 CE mainstream
the Woods Hole AGAVE expedition finds unconsolidated pyroclastic deposits covering more than 10 square kilometres of the ridge's axial valley source
2008 CE mainstream
Sohn and colleagues report the deposits at 85 E, 4,000 m down: the first pyroclastic deposit seen on the sea floor below 3,000 m, which needs at least 13.5 per cent carbon dioxide by weight in the magma source
2014 CE mainstream
the hydrothermal site Aurora is found on the ridge, with elevated methane and high temperatures source

Where

84.0000° N, 1.0000° W

The point is Wikipedia's position for the ridge, in its western volcanic zone; the ridge runs about 1,800 km across the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean, and the explosive deposits found in 2007 lie in its eastern part at 85 E.

Sources

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Each event carries Aion's own evidence grade (mainstream, disputed or speculative). This page repeats what the globe shows for this place.