Louisville Ridge
Appearance
Louisville Ridge | |
---|---|
Summit area | length:4,300 km (2,700 mi) |
Location | |
Location | Southwest Pacific Ocean |
Coordinates | 38°16′S 167°55′W / 38.27°S 167.92°W |
Geology | |
Type | Seamount chain |
Volcanic arc/chain | Louisville hotspot |
History | |
Discovery date | 1972 |
The Louisville Ridge, also known as the Louisville Seamount Chain,[1] is an underwater chain of over 70 seamounts located in the Southwest portion of the Pacific Ocean. As one of the longest seamount chains on Earth it stretches some 4,300 km (2,700 mi)[2] from the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge northwest to the Tonga-Kermadec Trench, where it subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate as part of the Pacific Plate. The chain may have been formed by movement of the Pacific Plate over the Louisville hotspot[3] or by leakage of magma from the shallow mantle up through the Eltanin fracture zone, which it follows closely.[4]
Depth-sounding data first revealed the existence of the seamount chain in 1972.[5]
Seamounts
The Louisville Ridge includes the following:
- Burton Seamount
- Currituck Seamount
- Danseur Seamount
- Darvin Guyot
- Forde Seamount
- Louisville Seamount
- Osbourn Seamount
- Pierson Seamount
- Rumyantsev Seamount
- Seafox Seamount
- Trobriant Seamount
- Valerie Guyot
- Vostok Seamount
See also
References
- ^ "Marine Gazetteer Placedetails". Retrieved 2017-02-20.
- ^ Vanderkluysen, L.; Mahoney, J. J.; Koppers, A. A.; and Lonsdale, P. F. (2007). Geochemical Evolution of the Louisville Seamount Chain, American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #V42B-06.
- ^ Koppers, Anthony A. P.; Yamazaki, Toshitsugu; Geldmacher, Jörg; Gee, Jeffrey S.; Pressling, Nicola; Koppers, Anthony A. P.; Yamazaki, Toshitsugu; Geldmacher, Jörg; Gee, Jeffrey S.; Pressling, Nicola; Hoshi, Hiroyuki (December 2012). "Limited latitudinal mantle plume motion for the Louisville hotspot". Nature Geoscience. 5 (12): 911–917. Bibcode:2012NatGe...5..911K. doi:10.1038/ngeo1638. ISSN 1752-0908.
- ^ Smith, A. G. (2007). "A plate model for Jurassic to recent intraplate volcanism in the Pacific Ocean basin". In Plates, Plumes, and Planetary Processes, Edited by G.R. Foulger and D.M. Jurdy, Geological Society of America Special Paper 530, Boulder, CO. 430: 471–496.
- ^
Sandwell, David T.; Walter H.F. Smith (1997). "Exploring the ocean basins with satellite altimeter data". Satellite Geodesy. La Jolla: Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
The Louisville Ridge was first detected in 1972 using depth soundings collected along random ship crossings of the South Pacific. Six years later the full extent of this chain was revealed by a radar altimeter aboard the Seasat (NASA) spacecraft.
External links
- Expedition 330 - Louisville Seamount Trail, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, 13 December 2010 to 11 February 2011
- The Louisville Ridge – Tonga Trench collision: Implications for subduction zone dynamics, RV Sonne Research Expedition SO215 Cruise Report, 25 April 2011 to 11 June 2011