Clipperton Fracture Zone in the Northeastern Equatorial Pacific

The Clipperton fracture zone is divisible as follows: (127°-113° W. long.). A broad, low welt, 900 miles long, has a central trough 10-30 miles wide and at most 4,200 feet deep. North of the welt the sea floor is 150-200 fathoms deeper than to the south. (113°-107° W. long.). Clipperton Island is one peak on a volcano-studded ridge, 60 miles wide and 330 miles long, with a deep, narrow trough on the north side. Local relief is 18,000 feet, and for 8,300 feet the slope is 40°. (107°-101° W. long.). A low welt with a central trough 1,200-2,400 feet deep transects the Albatross Plateau. (101°-96° W. long.). The east-west trend of the fracture zone appears offset 60 miles to the north; a great branching feature, the Tehuantepec Ridge, trends 400 miles northeast to the continental margin. Great submarine ridges like Clipperton Ridge are found in other places where major lineations intersect. This may indicate that a northwest-trending lineation intersects the Clipperton fracture zone near Clipperton Island. Transcurrent faults and submarine fracture zones are associated with most oceanic trenches. Lineations are much longer than trenches and intersect them at random angles. Lineations appear older than trenches.