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The mid-ocean ridges in the Indian Ocean comprise of Carlsberg ridge (CR), Central Indian Ridge (CIR), South West Indian Ridge (SWIR), and South East Indian Ridge (SEIR) systems. The CIR, SWIR and SEIR meet at the Rodriguez Triple Junction (RTJ) forming an inverted Y shaped ridge system.
The Central Indian Ridge (CIR) is a north–south-trending mid-ocean ridge in the western Indian Ocean.
The morphology of the CIR is characteristic of slow to intermediate ridges. The axial valley is 500–1000 m deep; 50–100 km-long ridge segments are separated by 30 km-long transform faults and 10 km-long non-transform discontinuities. Melt supply comes from axial volcanic ridges that are 15 km-long, 1–2 km wide, and reaches 100–200 m above the axial floor.[1]
With a spreading rate of 30 mm/yr near the Equator and 49 mm/yr near the Rodrigues Triple Junction (RTJ) at its southern end, the CIR is an intermediately fast spreading ridge characterised by moderate obliquity and few large offsets, the obvious exception being the almost 300 km-long Mary Celeste Fracture Zone at 18°S.[2] Between 21°S and the Mary Celeste Fracture Zone (18°S) the CIR deviates westward. Along this section the larger offsets switch from right-lateral to left-lateral but return to right-lateral north of 18°S.[1]
Otherwise, the southern section (RTJ-Argo Fracture Zone, 25°S-13°S) of the CIR is near-orthogonal relative to the spreading direction. North of the Argo FZ it is highly oblique and dominated by numerous small ridge segments. The northern section of the CIR, including the Carlsberg Ridge, trends NNW and lacks fracture zones. The axial depth of the CIR increases from 3200 m at 20°S to 4000 m at the RTJ.[2]
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