The Mysterious Mountains Underneath the Sea: The Wonders of New England Seamounts Introduction Seamounts are one of the most pervasive landforms in the world, and can be seen in various frequencies throughout ocean basins. Seamounts are remnants of volcanoes and can be described as underwater mountains that can take various shapes and sizes. Islands and seamounts are similar in the way they are formed but they are different because seamounts do not reach the oceans surface. The pacific basin—mainly the pacific tectonic plate—contains half the seamounts that can be seen in satellite altimetry datasets. The other half of the seamounts that can also been seen by satellite altimetry datasets reside in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Seamounts have steep flanks due to the cooling effect of the seawater as the magma pours out—unlike when the volcano is above sea level, the flanks are usually less steep. In deep waters the high water pressure allows a non-explosive eruption, taking the form of lava or pillow basalts. At this stage the seamounts remain circular. If the seamount is allowed to grow taller—and sufficient magma is available—then the flanks will express the gravitational stress by the development of rift zones, breaking the circular symmetry. As the seamount grows taller and reaches sea level, water pressure can’t contain the gases in the magma, as it can in deep water. When pressures can no loner suppress the volcanic reaction, it results in a higher rate of explosive eruptions. Once the island is established the volcano enters the shield building stage, building the island higher. However, once the volcano is inactive there is nothing to replace the erosion. The seamount is then brought back to sea level ... ... middle of paper ... ... as the oceanic plate moved over a hotspot as a rate of 4.7cm a year. The whole chain of New England seamounts took 20 million years to complete, and started about 100-103million years ago. Shape and size of seamounts varies—smaller seamounts are typically more symmetrically round where larger ones are asymmetrical due to rift zones. Seamounts affect local and global currents. As a current approaches a seamount upwelling occurs, mixing nutrient rich sediment into the waters. Some corals and sponges are known to have medicinal properties such as compounds for cancer treatment. Other studies show the benefit of using coral for bone grafting. Little is known about seamounts and the biodiversity that can be associated with them. From what we do know, seamounts are important features of the ocean, providing us with a whole diversity of life we have yet to explore.
The excerpt “A Description of New England” by: John Smith is a very interesting and descriptive work about life in the New England colony. The way John Smith describes what most people in the colony try to do, which includes converting non believers to Christians and how he himself had experienced the good days and bad days of life in the colony. John Smith’s description of what life was like when the colony was first founded is astonishing, because with very little to start out with, the people of the colony made it their dusty to convert the non believers to believers, and how they would strive to discover new things, and to build the settlement even bigger. John Smith was very detailed in how the people would make the colony better by erecting
Mauna Loa is located on a hot spot in the Pacific Ocean. It is not near a plate boundary, in fact it is 3,200 km from the nearest plate boundary, and is situated in the middle of the Pacific tectonic plate. This is actually a rarity, as 90% of volcanoes are along a tectonic plate boundary. A hot spot occurs where long, stationary vertical pools of magma rise up and towards the plate. Movement of the tectonic plates above the hot spot created Mauna Loa, along with the other Hawaiian volcanoes. The older Hawaiian Islands were once above this stationary hot spot, but have been carried northwest by the slowly moving Pacific plate. As the plate moves, it carries the previously formed, older, volcanoes with it, creating a trail of younger, new volcanoes behind. The islands are lined up along the Hawaiian Ridge-Emperor Seamounts chain, which is 3,750 miles and includes Kauai, Maui, Oahu and Hawai’i, from north to south, respectively. There are around 80 volcanoes in this chain; most of them underwater, consequently the term seamount refer to submarine volcanoes. Three volcanoes of Hawai’i, Mauna Loa, Kilauea and Loihi seamount, are all currently sharing the Hawaiian hot spot. Although, recent evidence has shown that all three volcanoes use have separate plumbing systems to expel the lava from the pool of magma deep below them. It has also been suggested that Loihi is slowly moving Mauna Loa from the center of the island, thus shifting directly over the hot spot. The closer to the hot spot a volcano is, the more active it will be. The Hawaiian hot spot has laid down layers of lava, building up enormous islands from the ocean floor.
We need coral reefs, and not just to make the ocean look pretty and colourful, they are more than just that…
Primary coasts are divided into two categories: submergent and emergent coasts. Submergent coastlines result from a general sea-level rise and crustal subsidence. Most of the eastern United States has submergent coastlines. One example is the Chesapeake Bay. Emergent coastlines result from the land being lifted, either by tectonic activity or rebound from the weight of heavy glaciers, which exposes the former sea bottom bit by bit forming continuously new shoreline.
Basalt forms due to the partial melting of the layer of the mantle called the asthenosphere. The asthenosphere is the plastic zone of the mantle beneath the rigid lithosphere. Mantle plumes coming from the mesosphere can cause the asthenosphere to melt with heat or even if pressure decreases, which is called decompression melting (Richard 2011). The magma that forms from this melting is mafic magma that solidifies once it reaches the earth’s surface and cools quickly. The above process mainly occurs mainly during intraplate igneous activity which is the main explanation for volcanic activity that occurs a long distance away from a plate boundary. If the tectonic plate above the mantle plume is moving it can create a string of volcanic activity such as in Hawaii. See Fig 2.
First you might need to know definition of tectonics. It is a theory in geology. The lithosphere of the Earth is divided into a small number of plates which float on and travel independently over the mantle and much of the Earth’s seismic activity occurs at the boundaries of these plates. That is the official definition of Plate tectonics. secondly, this plate covers many parts of continents. plate boundaries don’t go according to Continents boundaries, they make their own boundaries. The North American plat...
Stories about volcanoes are captivating. Myths come in different versions, but all of them are capable of capturing yours, and everybody’s imagination.
Super volcanoes are formed when magma rises from the mantle to create a scorching reservoir in the Earth's
Imagine a lush underwater place. Beautiful structures colorful animals and places that would never have been thought of before. In reality that's not what it really looks like, really the ocean is a desolate place that is barren like a desert. Many marine species have been lost by as much as 49%.(seeker) A big part of that reason is because of coral bleaching which causes as stated above a decline in species that depend on the coral as there home. Coral bleaching is a serious problem that could cause problems for everyone if we don’t fix it.
This article discusses how important the organisms symbiotic with coral reefs are, as well as how important coral reefs are to our environment. Also explained is how natural and non natural things things like hurricanes and overfishing affects them. A study is quoted about how water acidity also plays a role in the bleaching of corals. Lastly, restoration and conservation efforts are discussed and how we could possibly help our oceans.
Volcanoes can be one of the most destructive forces on Earth. It is estimated that some
Corals reefs are the most diverse ecosystems containing over 1 million different species of corals, fish, crustaceans, and creatures alike. Many marine species that humans enjoy eating call the coral reefs home. Indigenous people of small islands often depend on coral reefs as their way to acquire food sources. With current sciences advancing, people in the medical field have turned to the coral reefs to discover cancer slowing drugs that can be extracted from many reef dwellers. If the reefs become unavailable due to die off, so will these amazing life saving drugs sealing the door to many possibilities.
A volcano is landform (generally a mountain) where, during an eruption, ash, gas and molten rock (magma) escape through the Earths surface
A rift valley is formed on a divergent plate boundary. Divergence of plates happens because of slab pull (plates being pulled apart due to asthenospheric convection). When two plates are pulled apart, a ridge forms, and low-silica magma comes from inside the Earth to make a new crust (this is called plate formation). Rifts can occur at any location, of any elevation and on both types of plates. Rifts usually form vast valleys around the World (a commonly used example is the African Rift Valley, and it is still currently active). There are often large, incredibly deep lakes found in rift valleys (the deepest lake in the world, Lake Baikal is part of an active rift valley). Rift valleys have mostly shallow earthquakes, not devastating at all. Cracks in the valley with lava flowing out of them can also be found (volcanic fissures), along with cinder cone volcanoes. In Garibaldi Provincial Park, in British Columbia there is a cinder cone volcano, with cinder flats surrounding it, similar volcanoes can be found in rift
Coral reefs need to be preserved for many reasons. In this paper, I will discuss a few of them. First of all, they house a collection of diverse organisms, and contribute to fisheries which provide food items such as fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Furthermore, coral skeletons are being used as bone substitutes in reconstructive bone surgery and may be able to provide important medicine, including anti-cancer drugs and a compound that blocks ultra-violet rays, they even help reduce global warming by taking carbon dioxide out of the air. These reefs provide a habitat for many species.