The earthquake distribution on ultraslow mid-ocean ridges differs fundamentally from other spreading zones. Water circulating at a depth of up to 15 kilometres leads to the formation of rock that resembles soft soap. This is how the continental plates on ultraslow mid-ocean ridges may traipse without jerking,while the same process in other regions leads to many minor earthquakes, according to geophysicists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, and Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Their study is going to be published advanced online in the journal Nature on Wednesday,June 29, 2016.
Source: phys.org