The northern Mariana Trough is the site of active rifting which split a volcanic arc forming a backarc basin between the now extinct remnant arc volcanoes of the West Mariana Ridge and active Mariana Arc. The rifting begins near 24 N latitude and increases southward in the widening basin forming a good natural laboratory for examining the evolution of rifting, volcanism, and development of a backarc spreading center. For a JGR abstract ( F. Martinez, P. Fryer, N. Baker & T. Yamazaki, 1995) click here.