Bounty Seamount
Summit depth420 metres (1,380 ft)
Location
Coordinates25°11′S 129°23′W / 25.183°S 129.383°W / -25.183; -129.383[1]

Bounty Seamount is a seamount in the Pacific Ocean, which reaches a depth of 420 metres (1,380 ft)[2] or 450 metres (1,480 ft). It is about 3,950 metres (12,960 ft) high.[3]

Geology and geomorphology

The seamount is part of a group of seamounts about 100 kilometres (62 mi) away from Pitcairn Island, which includes several small seamounts and the large Adams Seamount.[4] These seamounts were discovered in 1989.[2]

Bounty has a conical shape, with three summit cones and several rift zones. Pillow lavas and hyaloclastite cover its slopes,[5] and parasitic vents can be observed as well.[6] The volcano has a volume of about 310 cubic kilometres (74 cu mi) and has a width of 19 kilometres (12 mi) at its foot.[7] Bounty has erupted rocks with compositions of alkali basalt, trachyandesite and trachyte.[8]

Eruption history

Bounty Seamount was formed in several stages,[2] and it could have developed over a time of 58,000 years.[6] Alkali basalts from Bounty have been dated by potassium-argon dating to be 344,000 ± 32,000 years before present.[9] Nevertheless, traces of recent volcanic activity and of hydrothermal venting have been found.[2]

This hydrothermal venting manifests itself by the release of low-temperature fluids and the formation of iron-rich crusts.[2] Temperatures of vented fluids amount to 14–19 °C (57–66 °F).[10]

References

  1. Devey, C.W.; Lackschewitz, K.S.; Mertz, D.F.; Bourdon, B.; Cheminée, J.-L.; Dubois, J.; Guivel, C.; Hékinian, R.; Stoffers, P. (1 May 2003). "Giving birth to hotspot volcanoes: Distribution and composition of young seamounts from the seafloor near Tahiti and Pitcairn islands". Geology. 31 (5): 396. Bibcode:2003Geo....31..395D. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0395:GBTHVD>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0091-7613.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Scholten et al. 2004, p. 376.
  3. Binard, Hékinian & Stoffers 1992, p. 253.
  4. Guillou, Garcia & Turpin 1997, p. 241.
  5. Binard, Hékinian & Stoffers 1992, p. 259.
  6. 1 2 Hekinian et al. 2003, p. 229.
  7. Hekinian et al. 2003, p. 228.
  8. Binard, Hékinian & Stoffers 1992, p. 257.
  9. Guillou, Garcia & Turpin 1997, p. 243.
  10. Scholten et al. 2004, p. 388.

Sources

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