fracture zone

[ frak-cher zohn ]

noun

, Geology, Oceanography.

1. a long, narrow rift on the ocean floor, separating areas of differing depth: where such a zone crosses a mid-ocean ridge, it displaces the ridge by faulting. Compare transform fault ( def ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of fracture zone¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

If you were to take a boat into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you would eventually stumble into a submarine fracture zone that is twice the size of India at roughly six million square kilometers.

From Salon

The discovery was made as part of the Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition, which is exploring and mapping the “poorly understood deepwater areas of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and Azores Plateau.”

From Seattle Times

Although the ice directly behind the mountain still seems stuck, GPS stations placed during the first field season show that slippage along the fracture zone is allowing other ice to maneuver around the mountain, which is likely to speed up the crack up.

From Science Magazine

Timely to repost this great @NWS_PTWC-produced animation of 40 years of recorded earthquakes in the Cascadia region — watch the very busy Blanco Fracture Zone just left of center as the years go by.

From Seattle Times

The activity was recorded about 200 to 250 miles west of Newport in an area called the Blanco Fracture Zone.

From Seattle Times