Tertiary sediment from the mid-atlantic ridge.

Abstract

Lower Miocene microfossils occur in basaltic glass in two dredge hauls from the crestal area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 30 degrees N. From the ridge and adjoining abyssal hills 43 pre-Pleistocene cores were identified, including one Cretaceous and four Eocene. Dredgings and cores now available suggest that the upper layer of the crust of the ridge is constructed of layers of interbedded sediments and basalt flows. The data rule out the possibility of large-scale continental drifting or spreading of the ocean floor since the Lower Miocene.