earth science

Schmieder Bank

Schmieder Bank is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Schmieder Bank rather than just read about it. In short: Schmieder Bank is a rocky undersea 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, Stylaster californicus. The bank lies about 3 nautical miles (6 km) west-southwest offshore from Point Sur.

Key takeaways

Schmieder Bank belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Schmieder Bank to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Schmieder Bank from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Schmieder Bank is a rocky undersea 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, Stylaster californicus. The bank lies about 3 nautical miles (6 km) west-southwest offshore from Point Sur. Within the 75-meter contour, the bank is roughly elliptical, with its major axis running northwest–southeast, 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 metres (118 ft) at one location and 40 metres (131 ft) at four or more other locations. During significant ice ages the bank emerged as an offshore island.

The bank was first explored during 1988–1991 by divers in visits organized and led by Dr. Robert Schmieder of Cordell Expeditions. That work generated a general description of the bank that was summarized in a privately published report. Because of the exceptionally rich biological community, the boundary of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was extended to include the Point Sur area. The bank is similar in many respects to Cordell Bank, lying 121 nautical miles (224 km) to the northwest. The bank has become a desirable, but difficult, goal for scuba divers. Schmieder has characterized both this bank and Cordell Bank as examples of "underwater islands". During 1986, NOAA carried out a high-resolution multibeam survey of the area as part of the Exclusive Economic Zone program. In 1998, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute was contracted to carry out a high-resolution (5-meter horizontal) survey of the area. Schmieder Bank was named on October 15, 1990 by the United States Board on Geographic Names.

References

Sources Guimarães, Marcos Perreau (January 16, 2005). "Sur Platform Exploration". Archived from the original on February 10, 2005. Lee, Robert (August 2009). "BAUE's August 2009 Trip to Schmieder Bank". Global Underwater Explorers. Lockwood, Millington; McGregor, Bonnie A., eds. (1989), Proceedings of the 1989 Exclusive Economic Zone Symposium on Mapping and Research: Federal-State Partners in EEZ Mapping (PDF), USGS Patterson, Jim. "California hydrocoral covered reef off Point Sur in Bug Sur". Navigational Chart 18686, NOAA, 1983 EEZ Bathymetric Survey, Project No. OPR-M539-DA-86, Description Report, Field No. DA-20-3-86, Register B-94., NOAA, 1986 "Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary". Retrieved December 9, 2016. Schmieder, Robert W. (1989). The 1988 Expeditions to Pt. Sur. Summary of Results. Cordell Expeditions. Schmieder, Robert W. (1991). Ecology of an Underwater Island. Walnut Creek, CA: Cordell Expeditions. "Schmieder Bank, Undersea Features". geographic.org. November 16, 1993.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Schmieder Bank

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Schmieder Bank claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Schmieder Bank before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Schmieder Bank ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Schmieder Bank

In research: Schmieder Bank appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Schmieder Bank in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Schmieder Bank is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Former islands from the last glacial maximum, Former islands of the United States, Islands of California, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Schmieder Bank outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Schmieder Bank in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Schmieder Bank means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Schmieder Bank out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Schmieder Bank in simple terms?

Why does Schmieder Bank matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Schmieder Bank?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Schmieder Bank.