Southwest Indian Ridge

The Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) is a mid-ocean ridge located along the floors of the south-west Indian Ocean and south-east Atlantic Ocean. A divergent tectonic plate boundary separating the Somali plate to the north from the Antarctic plate to the south, the SWIR is characterised by ultra-slow spreading rates (only exceeding those of the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic) combined with a fast lengthening of its axis between the two flanking triple junctions, Rodrigues (20°30′S 70°00′E / 20.500°S 70.000°E / -20.500; 70.000) in the Indian Ocean and Bouvet (54°17′S 1°5′W / 54.283°S 1.083°W / -54.283; -1.083) in the Atlantic Ocean.

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