What is the oldest seamount?
Meiji Seamount is the oldest seamount in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, with an estimated age of 82 million years.
What did the Emperor seamount form over?
It is composed of the Hawaiian ridge, consisting of the islands of the Hawaiian chain northwest to Kure Atoll, and the Emperor Seamounts: together they form a vast underwater mountain region of islands and intervening seamounts, atolls, shallows, banks and reefs along a line trending southeast to northwest beneath the ...
Why did the Emperor Seamounts change direction?
A conspicuous 60° bend of the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain in the north-western Pacific Ocean has variously been interpreted as the result of an abrupt Pacific plate motion change in the Eocene (∼47 Ma), a rapid southward drift of the Hawaiian hotspot before the formation of the bend, or a combination of these two causes.
How did the Emperor seamount chain most likely form?
However, Meiji Guyot, located to the north of Detroit Seamount, is likely somewhat older. In 1963, geologist John Tuzo Wilson explained that the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain was created by a hotspot of volcanic activity that stood as the Pacific tectonic plate moved over it.
What do you think the future for Loihi seamount will be?
As lava continues to be deposited on Loihi, scientists predict that it will rise above sea level sometime between 10,000 and 100,000 years from now. Scientists think that seamounts like Loihi may resemble worlds in the outer solar system like Saturn's moon Enceladus.
What is the eventual fate of the Pacific Plate?
Seafloor spreading is when tectonic plates split from each other, creating a new oceanic crust. While the Pacific Ocean is slowly shrinking, the Atlantic Ocean is expanding. Some scientists believe that eventually the Pacific Ocean could close completely.
What would happen if the Pacific Plate continues to move?
As the Pacific Plate continues to move west-northwest, the Island of Hawaii will be carried beyond the hotspot by plate motion, setting the stage for the formation of a new volcanic island in its place. In fact, this process may be under way.
When the Emperor seamount chain was formed which way was the Pacific Plate moving?
northward migrationImmediately after subduction started, the subduction zone began moving north, pulling the island arc and the Pacific Plate north with it. This northward migration continued from 80 to 50 million years, at which time the Emperor Chain was formed by the northern drift of the Pacific over the mantle plume.
What likely caused the sharp bend in the seamount distribution?
The mechanism causing the unique, sharp bend in the spectacular Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain has been uncovered in a collaboration between the University of Sydney and Caltech. Rapid southward motion of the Hawaiian plume, followed by a sharp slowdown, causes the sharp bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain.
What causes chains of seamounts?
Volcanic seamount chains such as Hawaii were created from magma produced near the surface by mantle plumes. Moving tectonic plates sit above the mantle and carry newly formed seamounts away from the plume underneath – the oldest seamounts in a chain are therefore furthest away from the plume.
What happens to the age of the islands as you move away from the hotspot?
As they age, the crust upon which they sit cools and subsides. This, combined with erosion of the islands once active volcanism stops, leads to a shrinking of the islands with age and their eventual submergence below the ocean surface.
What active submarine volcano will form the newest Hawaiian island in the future?
Kamaʻehuakanaloa SeamountCoordinates18.92°N 155.27°WCountryUnited StatesGeologyTypeSubmarine volcano14 more rows
How can plate tectonics be used to help explain the difference between a seamount and a Tablemount?
A seamount is a volcano with a cone-shaped top, whereas a tablemount is a volcano with a flattened top. Though both of these features originate at the crest (and topographic high) of the mid-ocean ridge, a tablemount has been subject to wave erosion when it rises above sea level.
Why do Tablemounts have flat tops?
Sometimes the crust on which an island or seamount sits will subside, taking the seamount with it. As this happens, the top of the seamount can become eroded flat, and these flat-topped seamounts are then called tablemounts or guyots.
How are seamounts formed?
At mid-ocean ridges, plates are spreading apart and magma rises to fill the gaps. Near subduction zones, plates collide, forcing ocean crust down toward Earth's hot interior, where this crustal material melts, forming magma that rises buoyantly back to the surface and erupts to create volcanoes and seamounts.
How are Tablemounts formed?
If a seamount eventually breaches the water's surface, it becomes an island. Wave action can then erode the exposed rock, and the peak may be flattened or leveled off. Flat-topped, submerged seamounts, called guyots or tablemounts, are seamounts that once breached the ocean's surface, but later subsided.