Pioneer Seamount

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Pioneer Seamount
Image
Bathymetry of Pioneer seamount.
Summit depth 820 m (2,690 ft)
Height 1,930 m (6,332 ft)
Summit area 12.8 km (6.9 nautical miles)x12.8 km (6.9 nautical miles)
Location
Location offshore Central California
Coordinates 37°21.1′N 123°26.1′W / 37.3517°N 123.4350°W / 37.3517; -123.4350Coordinates: 37°21.1′N 123°26.1′W / 37.3517°N 123.4350°W / 37.3517; -123.4350[1]
Country USA
Geology
Type Seamount (underwater volcano)
Volcanic arc/chain Central Californian seamounts
Age of rock 10.9 to 11.1 million years

Pioneer Seamount is an undersea mountain, or seamount, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of central California.

Location

Pioneer Seamount is located at 37° 21.1' North Latitude, 123° 26.1' West Longitude,[1] at the base of the continental slope[2] of North America about 95 kilometers (51 nautical miles) off the coast[3] just south west of San Francisco, California.[4]

Physical characteristics

The seamount is a volcano between 10.9 and 11.1 million years old. It is about 12.8 kilometers (6.9 nautical miles) long as well as about 12.8 kilometers (6.9 nautical miles) wide, and has a volume of about 135 cubic kilometers (32.4 cubic miles). It rises about 1,930 meters (6,332 feet) above the surrounding ocean floor, and its peak is a minimum of 820 meters (2,696 feet) below the ocean's surface. Samples from the seamount consist of highly vesicular alkalic basalt, hawaiite, and mugearite.[5]

Biological environment

A wide variety of sealife lives on the seamount. Corals dominate in deeper areas and sponges in its shallower parts.[6]

Naming

Pioneer Seamount was named for Pioneer, the first of three survey ships of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to bear the name. Pioneer operated along the United States West Coast and in the then-Territory of Alaska during her Coast and Geodetic Survey career, which lasted from 1922 to 1941.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 NOAA Vents Program Acoustic Monitoring; Acousting Monitoring Program Pioneer Seamount
  2. ↑ United States Geologic Survey Monthly Newsletter Sound Waves: Fieldwork: Geologists and Biologists Endeavor to Understand Seamount Environments Off California
  3. ↑ NOAA Vents Program Acoustic Monitoring; Acousting Monitoring Program Pioneer Seamount
  4. ↑ United States Geologic Survey Monthly Newsletter Sound Waves: Fieldwork: Geologists and Biologists Endeavor to Understand Seamount Environments Off California
  5. ↑ Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: Pioneer Seamount
  6. ↑ Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: Seamounts 2007
  7. ↑ NOAA History: Tools of the Trade: Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships: Pioneer

References

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