The upper figure is an image of the gravity field around the triple junction from satellite altimetry data (Sandwell and Smith, 1997) with plate boundaries shown. The lower figure is bathymetry over the triple junction and Spiess Ridge, a giant volcanic structure (abstract and full article (PDF)*). The growth of Spiess Ridge adjacent to the triple junction has led to peculiar deformation around it which does not obviously fit either the RRR or RFF models (abstract). Our surveying just north of the Bouvet and Conrad transform valleys, however, showed that the triple junction did probably evolve as a simple RFF for a few millions of years. Interestingly the Mid-Atlantic Ridge fabrics created during that RFF evolution are now over-printed by a massive oblique extensional faults, possibly representing the largest zone of transtensional deformation found so far in the oceans (abstract and full article (PDF)*). Collaborators: Roy Livermore (British Antarctic Survey), Enrico Bonatti, Marco Ligi, Paola Fabretti and Gabriela Carrara (ISMAR, CNR, Bologna, Italy)