fracture zone: Meaning and Definition of

frac'ture zone"

Pronunciation: [key]
— Oceanog. Oceanog.
  1. a long, narrow rift on the ocean floor, separating areas of differing depth: where such a zone crosses a mid-ocean ridge, it displaces the ridge by faulting. Cf. transform fault.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.