105. Basalt from the Seafloor (1968)

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Basalt from the Seafloor

In August 1968, at 45°N, this sample of basalt was collected at 3057 metres below the ocean surface by a research team aboard the CSS Hudson stationed over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

At a time when plate tectonics and seafloor spreading were novel and controversial concepts, Geological Survey of Canada researchers were contributing to international scientific efforts such as the Deep Sea Drilling Program (and later, the Ocean Drilling Program) to understand the structure (morphology) and significance of the ocean floor.

It was an exciting time for the researchers and technologists who were increasing our understanding of marine geology and developing innovative methods of surveying and sampling. Survey researchers sought to understand the geological processes at divergent plate boundaries (seafloor spreading), such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and the resulting morphology of the global mid-ocean ridge system.

Category: Rocks, Fossils, Minerals and Meteorites

Decade: 1960s

GSC 175 - CGC 175

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