Kodiak Seamount

Kodiak Seamount is the oldest seamount in the Kodiak-Bowie Seamount chain, with an estimated age of 24 million years.[1] It lies at the northernmost end of the chain and its flat-topped summit is strewn with fault lines. Like the rest of the Kodiak-Bowie seamounts, it was formed by the Bowie hotspot.

Kodiak Seamount
Map of Kodiak–Bowie seamount chain
Summit depth2,300 m (7,500 ft)
Location
LocationNorth Pacific Ocean, 120 miles southeast of Kodiak Island
CountryUnited States
Geology
TypeGuyot
Volcanic arc/chainKodiak-Bowie Seamount chain
Age of rock24 million years

Kodiak 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. Because of Kodiak Seamount's approach into the Aleutian Trench, it is literally cracking up under the stress.[2] Although Kodiak is the oldest extant seamount in the Kodiak-Bowie chain, the adjacent lower slope contains transverse scars indicating earlier subduction of seamounts.

See also

References

  1. NOAA Ocean Explorer: Gulf of Alaska 2004 Retrieved on 2007-09-03
  2. Alaska Demo: Day 3, July 31, 1999 Retrieved on 2007-09-16
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