Sestri Levante, Italy
19-22 September 2006
Workshop Report
By Jonathan Snow, Henry Dick, Elisabetta Rampone, Colin Devey
In recent years, Polar mid-ocean ridges have been the focus of some of the most exciting scientific results from mid-ocean ridges globally. 60 scientists from the international mid-ocean ridge community met in the Italian coastal town of Sestri Levante for four days in mid-September, 2006 to discuss the progress and future of research on polar mid-ocean ridges. These include the trans-Arctic Gakkel Ridge and the circum-Antarctic SW Indian and American-Antarctic ridges. These mid-ocean ridges belong primarily to the ultraslow class of mid-ocean ridges (<16 mm/yr full spreading rate). Ultraslow ridges have gained increased recognition in recent years because of the very successful exploration of the Arctic ridge system by a number of cruises since the drafting of the InterRidge Arctic Mapping and Sampling Plan in 1998 (ref). Since then, we have seen the first intentional hard rock sampling in pack ice (Jokat, 1999; Snow, 2001), mapping by submarine beneath the arctic ice (Edwards 1999) an extensive program of mapping and sampling on Gakkel Ridge (Michael, 2003; Jokat; 2003; Edmonds 2003), and on Lena Trough (Snow, 2006).
