earth science

New England Seamounts

New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts rather than just read about it. In short: The New England Seamounts is a chain of over twenty underwater extinct volcanic mountains known as seamounts. This chain of seamounts is located off the coast of Massachusetts in the Atlantic Ocean and extends over 1,000 kilometers (600 mi) from the edge of Georges Bank.

Key takeaways

New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of New England Seamounts from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The New England Seamounts is a chain of over twenty underwater extinct volcanic mountains known as seamounts. This chain of seamounts is located off the coast of Massachusetts in the Atlantic Ocean and extends over 1,000 kilometers (600 mi) from the edge of Georges Bank. Many of the peaks of these mountains rise over 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) from the seabed. The New England Seamounts chain is the longest such chain in the North Atlantic and is home to 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 is part of the Great Meteor hotspot track and was 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. Part of the seamount chain is protected by Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. A variety of different names have been used to refer to this seamount range, including the Kelvin Seamounts, Kelvin Seamount Group, Kelvin Banks, New England Seamount Chain and the Bermuda-New England Seamount Arc (including the Bermuda Pedestal, which contains the archipelago of Bermuda and Argus and Challenger Banks, and Bowditch Seamount, and other seamounts intervening roughly between Bermuda and Nashville Seamount).

Formation 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 over the zone. As the continent drifted to the west, the hotspot gradually moved offshore. On a southeasterly course, the hotspot formed Bear Seamount, the oldest seamount in the chain, about 100 to 103 million years ago. Over the course of millions of years, the hotspot continued to create the other seamounts in the chain, culminating about 83 million years ago with the creation of the Nashville Seamount. 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 located 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, and the chain sank into the ocean. All the peaks are now a kilometer or more below the surface.

Biota

The seamount chain provides a unique habitat for deep sea marine creatures. Coral formations grow on the rocky outcrops, resembling underwater forests that provide shelter for invertebrates and fish. Due to the expense 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. Since 2000, marine biologists, during various exploratory studies, have caught and classified over 203 species of fish and 214 species of invertebrates on the Bear Seamount. This range of diversity suggests that other seamounts may harbour more unknown macro-organisms. During one survey, a species of cutthroat eel, believed to be found only near Australia, was identified. Corals, echinoderms, and crustaceans 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

The New England Seamounts include:

Allegheny Seamount 36°52′7.6″N 58°44′16.4″W Asterias Seamount 38°53′56″N 65°17′59.8″W Balanus Seamount 39°22′58.8″N 65°22′47.3″W Bear Seamount (National Monument) 39°55′N 67°24′W Buell Seamount 39°3′46.6″N 66°24′0.3″W Gerda Seamount 36°14′13.8″N 57°29′56.1″W Gilliss Seamount Gosnold Seamount (guyot) 38°6′55.2″N 62°15′54.9″W Gregg Seamount (guyot) Hodgson Seamount 35°34′56.8″N 58°40′0″W Kelvin Seamount (guyot) 39°19′6.5″N 64°31′21.1″W Kiwi Seamount 39°19′6.5″N 64°31′21.1″W Manning Seamount 38°9′54.5″N 60°40′0″W Michael Seamount 36°21′56.6″N 58°21′2.2″W Mytilus Seamount (National Monument) 39°21′37.2″N 67°8′48.2″W Nashville Seamount 34°59′59.7″N 57°21′3.7″W Panulirus Seamount 38°28′1.6″N 64°47′11.6″W Picket Seamount 39°38′9.9″N 65°58′52.8″W Physalia Seamount (National Monument) 39°48′18.3″N 66°52′45.6″W Rehoboth Seamount (guyot) 37°32′5.3″N 59°55′59.3″W Retriever Seamount (National Monument) 39°47′37.6″N 66°14′41.3″W San Pablo Seamount 38°56′23.3″N 60°27′25.8″W Sheldrake Seamount 38°26′29.5″N 62°5′9″W Vogel Seamount (guyot) 37°13′41.1″N 60°14′48.2″W

See also New England hotspot Corner Rise Seamounts Seewarte Seamounts

References

External links "New England Seamount Chain". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2017-02-20. Overview of Studies of NW Atlantic Seamounts for the ISA. Archived 2022-01-21 at the Wayback Machine International Seabed Authority.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with New England Seamounts

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts

In research: New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts 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: New England Seamounts is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Guyots, Hotspot tracks, Hotspot volcanoes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is New England Seamounts in simple terms?

Why does New England Seamounts 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 New England Seamounts?

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 New England Seamounts.