Muir Seamount is a

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

( underwater volcano), located at . It is located in the

Bermuda rise ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

, a seismically active region, and was the site of an earthquake on 24 March 1978. Fourteen

core sample A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally-occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, such as sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube, called a core drill. The h ...

s of up to 125,000 years of age were collected off of Muir Seamount, ranging in depth to more than . These samples were used to analyse the weight percentage of

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...

over time on the ocean floor, which in turn would provide clues to the oceanic environment over time. Overall concentrations were most stable at of depth. This was interpreted as indicating an increase in flow form colder waters of

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

flow, and the stagnation of the North American flows. A total of 8 core samples have been gathered, with ages ranging from

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

. No radiometric dates are available for the seamount, but it may of

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

time. Over 150

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s have been collected in total from

Bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

Manning Manning (a.k.a. Mannion, Manning) is a family name. Origin and meaning Manning is from an old Norse word — manningi — meaning a brave or valiant man; and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another cartography was Mannyg ...

, and Muir seamounts.

Ophiuroid Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

s and

goose barnacle Goose barnacles, also called stalked barnacles or gooseneck barnacles, are filter-feeding crustaceans that live attached to hard surfaces of rocks and flotsam in the ocean intertidal zone. Goose barnacles formerly made up the taxonomic order P ...

s are the most abundant animal found on the seamount, as is ''Asteroshchema sp.'', a

basket star The Euryalida are an order of brittle stars, which includes large species with either branching arms (called "basket stars") or long and curling arms (called "snake stars"). Characteristics Many of the species in this order have characteristi ...

Paragorgia ''Paragorgia'' is a genus of soft coral in the family Paragorgiidae Paragorgiidae is a family of corals, a member of the phylum Cnidaria. Genera Genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of ...

have also been observed. Genetic tests on the specimens collected indicated that Muir Seamount is the most genetically isolated of the four.

References

{{reflist Seamounts of the Atlantic Ocean