Check out the volcano cluster found by RV Investigator!
Posted: July 13, 2015 Filed under: Home | Tags: ANU, Extinct volcanoes, Marine National Facility, Professor Iain Suthers, Professor Richard Arculus, RV Investigator, UNSW, Volcanic cluster, Volcano 5 CommentsAustralia’s new ocean-going research vessel Investigator has discovered extinct volcanoes likely to be 50 million years old, about 250 km off the coast of Sydney in 4,900 m of water.
The chief scientist for the voyage, UNSW marine biologist Professor Iain Suthers, said while we searching for the nursery grounds for larval lobsters, the ship was also routinely mapping the seafloor when the volcanoes were discovered.
The centre of the volcanic cluster is 33 31 S, 153 52 E, which is 248 km from Sydney Heads. The cluster is 20 km long and six km wide and the seafloor 4890 metres deep, with the highest point in the cluster rising up to 3998 metres.
Southern Surveyor voyage to the Tasmantid Seamounts
Posted: March 20, 2013 Filed under: Home | Tags: Australia's Marine National Facility, Dr Benjamin Cohen, Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, Extinct volcanoes, Southern Surveyor, Tasmantid Seamounts, University of Queensland Leave a commentIn December 2012, Dr Benjamin Cohen from the University of Queensland led a team on board Australia’s Marine National Facility research vessel, Southern Surveyor, to explore, map and take seafloor samples of the Tasmantid Seamounts.
Here’s a little excerpt from Ben Cohen’s summary of his voyage, and some fabulous photos.
The ocean floor is the Earth’s last great frontier: we have better Lunar and Martian maps than of our own planet.
Part of this great unknown lies on Australia’s doorstep, only 150-600 km east of the mainland. Here a 2000 km long chain of submerged volcanoes rise over 4000 m above the seafloor – nearly twice the height of Mt Kosciusko, Australia’s highest mountain on land.
These undersea mountains – the Tasmantid Seamounts – are extinct volcanoes formed above a mantle hotspot, similar to the Hawaiian Islands. Our expedition aimed to map and sample the Tasmantid volcanoes with state-of-the-art technologies aboard Australia’s Marine National Facility research vessel Southern Surveyor.
The maps have enabled visualization of these volcanoes in unprecedented detail. Meanwhile, samples collected during the expedition allow us to study these volcanoes back in the laboratory, allowing us to address questions such as the volcanic age and eruptive history, and subsequent growth of carbonate reefs upon the extinct volcanic pedestals.
