Muirfield Seamount
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| Muirfield Seamount | |
|---|---|
| Summit depth | 16–18 metres |
| Height | ~5,000 m |
| Location | Indian Ocean |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Country | Australia (EEZ) |
| Discovered | 1973 |
The Muirfield Seamount is a submarine mountain located in the Indian Ocean approximately 130 kilometers (70 nautical miles) southwest of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The Cocos Islands are an Australian territory, and therefore the Muirfield Seamount is within in Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Muirfield Seamount is a submerged archipelago, approximately 1.5 miles in diameter and 16–18 meters below the surface of the sea. A 1999 biological survey of the seamount performed by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) revealed that the area is depauperate.
The Muirfield Seamount was discovered accidentally in 1973 when the cargo ship MV Muirfield (a merchant vessel named after Muirfield, Scotland) was motoring in waters charted at a depth of >5,000 meters, when she suddenly struck an unknown object, resulting in extensive damage to her keel.[1] In 1983, HMAS Moresby, a Royal Australian Navy survey ship, surveyed the area where Muirfield was damaged, and charted in detail this previously unsuspected hazard to navigation.
The likelihood of such a large rock hazard remaining undetected by a deep draft ship with functioning modern depth-finding equipment (including side-scan sonar) is fairly low. However, some large vessels do not carry side-scan sonar, and among vessels that do, the equipment may be in disrepair or operators may not know how to use the equipment. Therefore, ships continue to come to grief on seamounts.
The dramatic accidental discovery of the Muirfield Seamount is often cited as an example of limitations in the vertical datum accuracy of some offshore areas as represented on oceanic navigational charts, especially on small-scale charts. A similar incident involving a passenger ship occurred in 1992 when the Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 struck a submerged rock off Block Island in the Atlantic Ocean.[2] More recently, the USS San Francisco (SSN-711) submarine ran into an uncharted seamount in 2005 at a speed of 35 knots, sustaining serious damage and killing one seaman.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- [1], a summary of the 1999 CSIRO Franklin voyage that included a survey of the Muirfield Seamount.
