Gakkel Ridge

[3] In 2001 two research icebreakers, the German Polarstern and the American Healy, with several groups of scientists, cruised to the Gakkel Ridge to explore it and collect petrological samples.

In 2007, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution conducted the "Arctic Gakkel Vents Expedition" (AGAVE), which made some unanticipated discoveries, including the unconsolidated fragmented pyroclastic volcanic deposits that cover the axial valley of the ridge (whose area is greater than 10 km2).

[4] Using "free-swimming" robotic submersibles on the Gakkel ridge, the AGAVE expedition also discovered what they called "bizarre 'mats' of microbial communities containing a half dozen or more new species".

[6][7] Aurora has elevated levels of methane and high temperatures, suggesting interactions between water and ultramafic rock below the vent field (rather than basalt reactions).

[9] The gaps of volcanic activity imply very cold crust and mantle, probably related to the very low spreading rate, but it is not yet known why some parts of the ridge are more magmatic than others.