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Schmieder Bank

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Schmieder Bank is a rocky bank west of Point Sur, California, roughly 25 nautical miles (46 km) south of Monterey, supporting an extraordinarily lush biological community, including very large individual colonies of the California Hydrocoral [Schmieder, 1989].

The bank lies about 3 nm WSW offshore from Point Sur. Within the 75 m contour, the bank is roughly elliptical, with major axis NW-SE, enclosing an area of about 1 square mile (3 km2). The surface of the bank is a surf-erosional plateau, punctuated by a series of narrow ridges (running approximately parallel to the major axis), and several extremely sharp isolated pinnacles. Minimum depths are 36 m (at one location) and 40 m (at least 4 locations). During significant ice ages the Bank emerged as an offshore island. The Bank is an example of an Underwater Island, of which Cordell Bank is another [Schmieder, 1991].

The Bank was first explored by divers during 1988-91 by Cordell Expeditions, organized and led by Dr. Robert Schmieder. That work generated a general description of the bank, summarized in a privately published report [Schmieder, 1989]. Because of the exceptionally rich biological community, the boundary of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was extended to include the Point Sur area.[1] The Bank is similar in many respects to Cordell Bank [Schmieder, 1991], lying 121 nm to the Northwest. The Bank has become a desirable, but difficult, goal for SCUBA divers.[2][3][4]

During 1986, NOAA carried out a high-resolution multibeam survey of the area as part of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) program [NOAA, 1986], and during 1998 the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) contracted to carry out a high-resolution (5 m horizontal) survey [USGS, 1989].

Schmieder Bank was named[5] on October 15, 1990, by the U. S. Board on Geographic Names, following a recommendations by the late Dr. Melanie Stright (U.S. Minerals Management Service), Dr. Paul Silva (UC Berkeley) and Dr. Sylvia Earle (NOAA Chief Scientist).

References

  1. ^ http://montereybay.noaa.gov/.
  2. ^ [1].
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3].
  5. ^ [4]
  • NOAA, 1983, Navigational Chart 18686.
  • NOAA, 1986, EEZ Bathymetric Survey, Project No. OPR-M539-DA-86, Description Report, Field No. DA-20-3-86, Register B-94.
  • Robert W. Schmieder, 1989, "The 1988 Expeditions to Pt. Sur. Summary of Results," Rept. CE-89-4, Cordell Expeditions, 80 pp. incl. color plates.
  • Robert W. Schmieder, 1991, "Ecology of an Underwater Island", Cordell Expeditions, Walnut Creek, CA. http://www.cordell.org.
  • USGS, 1989, Proceedings of the 1989 Exclusive Economic Zone Symposium on Mapping and Research: Federal-State Partners in EEZ Mapping, Millington Lockwood, Bonnie A. McGregor, Editors, Meetings at the USGS National Center, Reston, VA, Nov. 14-16, 1989. USGS Circular 1052.

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