New England Seamount chain
Encyclopedia
The New England Seamount chain is an underwater chain of seamount
s in the Atlantic Ocean
stretching over 1,000 kilometers from the edge of the Georges Bank
off the coast of Massachusetts
. The chain consists of over twenty extinct volcanic peaks, many rising over 4,000 meters from the seabed
. It is the longest seamount chain in the North Atlantic and harbours a diverse range of deep sea
fauna. Scientists have visited the chain on various occasions to survey the geologic makeup and biota
of the region. The chain forms part of the Great Meteor hotspot track
, having formed by the movement of the North American Plate
over the New England hotspot
. The oldest volcanoes that were formed by the same hotspot are northwest of Hudson Bay
, Canada
.
The New England hotspot, also referred to as the Great Meteor hotspot, formed the White Mountains
124 to 100 million years ago when the North American continent
was directly overhead. As the continent drifted
to the west, the hotspot gradually moved offshore. On a southeasterly course, the hotspot formed Bear Seamount
, the oldest in the chain, about 100 to 103 million years ago. Over the course of millions of years, it continued creating the rest of the seamounts, eventually culminating in the Nashville Seamount
about 83 million years ago. As the Atlantic Ocean continued to spread
, the hotspot eventually "travelled" further east, forming the Great Meteor Seamount
south of the Azores
, where it is found today. The New England Seamounts were once at or above sea level
. As time passed, however, and the chain moved farther away from the New England hotspot, the crust
cooled and contracted, sinking back down to the ocean. The peaks are now all a kilometer or more below the surface.
marine creatures. Coral
formations grow on the rocky outcrops, resembling underwater forests that provide shelter for invertebrate
s and fish. Due to the expenses and difficulties of studying the deep ocean, little was known of the creatures that inhabited the New England Seamounts. In fact, before recent expeditions, there was only one known coral species in the entire chain. Marine biologists caught and classified over 203 species of fish and 214 species of invertebrates on the Bear Seamount
in various exploratory studies since 2000. This range of diversity suggests that other seamounts may harbour more unknown macro-organisms. In fact, during one survey, a species of cutthroat eel
believed to be found only near Australia was identified. Corals, echinoderm
s, and crustacean
s make up a large portion of the creatures found on the seamount. These organisms act as indicator species
, identifying potential problems in the ecosystem.
Seamounts within the New England Seamount chain include:
Seamount
A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface , and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of depth. They are defined by oceanographers as...
s in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
stretching over 1,000 kilometers from the edge of the Georges Bank
Georges Bank
Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor which separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean and is situated between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia ....
off the coast of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The chain consists of over twenty extinct volcanic peaks, many rising over 4,000 meters from the seabed
Seabed
The seabed is the bottom of the ocean.- Ocean structure :Most of the oceans have a common structure, created by common physical phenomena, mainly from tectonic movement, and sediment from various sources...
. It is the longest seamount chain in the North Atlantic and harbours a diverse range of deep sea
Deep sea
The deep sea, or deep layer, is the lowest layer in the ocean, existing below the thermocline and above the seabed, at a depth of 1000 fathoms or more. Little or no light penetrates this part of the ocean and most of the organisms that live there rely for subsistence on falling organic matter...
fauna. Scientists have visited the chain on various occasions to survey the geologic makeup and biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
of the region. The chain forms part of the Great Meteor hotspot track
Great Meteor hotspot track
The Great Meteor hotspot track, also referred to as the New England hotspot track, is a vast hotspot track in the Northern Hemisphere, stretching over from Nunavut in Northern Canada to the northern Atlantic Ocean...
, having formed by the movement of the North American Plate
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, Bahamas, and parts of Siberia, Japan and Iceland. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust...
over the New England hotspot
New England hotspot
The New England hotspot, also referred to as the Great Meteor hotspot, is a long-lived volcanic hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean. The hotspot's most recent eruptive center is the Great Meteor Seamount, and it probably created a short line of mid to late-Tertiary age seamounts on the African Plate but...
. The oldest volcanoes that were formed by the same hotspot are northwest of Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Formation
White Mountains (New Hampshire)
The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...
124 to 100 million years ago when the North American continent
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
was directly overhead. As the continent drifted
Continental drift
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912...
to the west, the hotspot gradually moved offshore. On a southeasterly course, the hotspot formed Bear Seamount
Bear Seamount
The Bear Seamount is a guyot in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the oldest of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot.- External links :*...
, the oldest in the chain, about 100 to 103 million years ago. Over the course of millions of years, it continued creating the rest of the seamounts, eventually culminating in the Nashville Seamount
Nashville Seamount
The Nashville Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
about 83 million years ago. As the Atlantic Ocean continued to spread
Seafloor spreading
Seafloor spreading is a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics....
, the hotspot eventually "travelled" further east, forming the Great Meteor Seamount
Great Meteor Seamount
The Great Meteor Seamount is a large guyot located south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the New England hotspot's most recent eruptive center and is one of the most completely investigated seamounts in the world. This guyot rises up from a depth of almost 4,800 meters to about 270...
south of the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, where it is found today. The New England Seamounts were once at or above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. As time passed, however, and the chain moved farther away from the New England hotspot, the crust
Crust (geology)
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet or natural satellite, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle...
cooled and contracted, sinking back down to the ocean. The peaks are now all a kilometer or more below the surface.
Biota
The seamount chain provides a unique habitat for deep seaBathyal zone
The bathyal zone or bathypelagic – from Greek βαθύς , deep – is that part of the pelagic zone that extends from a depth of 1000 to 4000 metres below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below. The average temperature hovers at about 39°F...
marine creatures. Coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
formations grow on the rocky outcrops, resembling underwater forests that provide shelter for invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s and fish. Due to the expenses and difficulties of studying the deep ocean, little was known of the creatures that inhabited the New England Seamounts. In fact, before recent expeditions, there was only one known coral species in the entire chain. Marine biologists caught and classified over 203 species of fish and 214 species of invertebrates on the Bear Seamount
Bear Seamount
The Bear Seamount is a guyot in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the oldest of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot.- External links :*...
in various exploratory studies since 2000. This range of diversity suggests that other seamounts may harbour more unknown macro-organisms. In fact, during one survey, a species of cutthroat eel
Cutthroat eel
Cutthroat eels are a family, Synaphobranchidae, of eels, the only member of the suborder Synaphobranchoidei. They are found worldwide in temperate and tropical seas....
believed to be found only near Australia was identified. Corals, echinoderm
Echinoderm
Echinoderms are a phylum of marine animals. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone....
s, and crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s make up a large portion of the creatures found on the seamount. These organisms act as indicator species
Indicator species
An indicator species is any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment. For example, a species may delineate an ecoregion or indicate an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change...
, identifying potential problems in the ecosystem.
Seamounts
- Allegheny SeamountAllegheny SeamountThe Allegheny Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Asterias SeamountAsterias SeamountThe Asterias Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Balanus SeamountBalanus SeamountThe Balanus Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Bear SeamountBear SeamountThe Bear Seamount is a guyot in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the oldest of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot.- External links :*...
- Buell SeamountBuell SeamountThe Buell Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Gerda SeamountGerda SeamountThe Gerda Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Gilliss SeamountGilliss SeamountThe Gilliss Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Gosnold SeamountGosnold SeamountThe Gosnold Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Gregg SeamountGregg SeamountThe Gregg Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Hodgson SeamountHodgson SeamountThe Hodgson Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Kelvin SeamountKelvin SeamountThe Kelvin Seamount is a guyot in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Kiwi Seamount
- Manning SeamountManning SeamountThe Manning Seamount is a guyot in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Michael SeamountMichael SeamountThe Michael Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Mytilus SeamountMytilus SeamountThe Mytilus Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Nashville SeamountNashville SeamountThe Nashville Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Panulirus SeamountPanulirus SeamountThe Panulirus Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Picket SeamountPicket SeamountThe Picket Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Physalia SeamountPhysalia SeamountThe Physalia Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Rehoboth SeamountRehoboth SeamountThe Rehoboth Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Retriever SeamountRetriever SeamountThe Retriever Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- San Pablo SeamountSan Pablo SeamountThe San Pablo Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Sheldrake SeamountSheldrake SeamountThe Sheldrake Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
- Vogel SeamountVogel SeamountThe Vegel Seamount is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the New England Seamount chain, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot....
External links
- Overview of Studies of NW Atlantic Seamounts for the ISA. International Seabed Authority.