2003), Morphology and segmentation of the western Galápagos Spreading Center, 90.5°–98°W: Plume‐ridge interaction at an intermediate spreading ridge, Geochem. Geophys

[1] Complete multibeam bathymetric coverage of the western Galápagos Spreading Center (GSC) between 90.5W and 98W reveals the fine-scale morphology, segmentation and influence of the Galápagos hot spot on this intermediate spreading ridge. The western GSC comprises three morphologically defined provinces: A Western Province, located farthest from the Galápagos hot spot west of 95300W, is characterized by an axial deep, rift valley morphology with individual, overlapping, E-W striking segments separated by non-transform offsets; A Middle Province, between the propagating rift tips at 93150W and 95300W, with transitional axial morphology strikes 276; An Eastern Province, closest to the Galápagos hot spot between the 90500W Galápagos Transform and 93150W, with an axial high morphology generally less than 1800 m deep, strikes 280. At a finer scale, the axial region consists of 32 individual segments defined on the basis of smaller, mainly <2 km, offsets. These offsets mainly step left in the Western and Middle Provinces, and right in the Eastern Province. Glass compositions indicate that the GSC is segmented magmatically into 8 broad regions, with Mg # generally decreasing to the west within each region. Striking differences in bathymetric and lava fractionation patterns between the propagating rifts with tips at 93150Wand 95300W reflect lower overall magma supply and larger offset distance at the latter. The structure of the Eastern Province is complicated by the intersection of a series of volcani