Meiji Seamount

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meiji Seamount
Elevation of the Pacific seafloor, showing the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain including Meiji Seamount near top.
Summit depth	approx. 2,000 m (6,562 ft)
Location	North Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	53°12′N, 164°30′W
Type	Guyot
Volcanic arc/chain	Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain

Meiji Seamount is the oldest seamount in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, with an estimated age of 82 million years. It lies at the northernmost end of the chain, and is perched at the outer slope of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. Like the rest of the Emperor seamounts, it was formed by the Hawaii hotspot volcanism, grew to become an island, and has since subsided to below sea level, all while being carried first north and now northwest by the motion of the Pacific Plate. Meiji Seamount is thus an example of a particular type of seamount known as a guyot, and some publications refer to it as "Meiji Guyot".

Meiji Seamount will eventually be destroyed by subduction by the Aleutian Trench once it is carried into the trench by the ongoing plate motion, although this will not fully occur for several million more years if the current rate of motion is maintained. Although Meiji is the oldest extant seamount in the Hawaii-Emperor chain, the question of whether there were older seamounts in the chain which have already been subducted into the trench remains open, and is the subject of ongoing scientific research.

The seamount was named after the Emperor Meiji of Japan.