Noroit 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 ...

in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

, in the

Anegada Passage The Anegada Passage is a strait in the Caribbean that separates the British Virgin Islands and the British ruled Sombrero, Anguilla, Sombrero Island of Anguilla, and connects the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. It is 2300 m deep. Because the ...

. It is also spelled Noroît Seamount after the French survey and research vessel RV ''Le Noroît'' () which was operated by

IFREMER IFREMER (Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer; ) is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in the following areas: * Monitoring, use and enhancement of coa ...

. It is also known as Noroit Knoll. Several research projects are conducted in vicinity of Noroit Seamount.

Geology

The seamount is a (relatively young) inactive

submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...

, located on the boundary between the

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...

and the

Caribbean Plate The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America. Roughly 3.2 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) in area, the Caribbean Plate borders ...

.Earthquake, Landslide, and Tsunami Hazards in the Northeastern Caribbean—Insights from a 2013 E/V Nautilus Expedition

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

Flora and fauna

Noroît Seamount's

marine habitats Marine habitats are habitats that support marine life. Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea (the term ''marine'' comes from the Latin ''mare'', meaning sea or ocean). A habitat is an ecological or environmental a ...

are well researched.Demopoulos, A. W.; Bourque, J. R.; Cordes, E. E.; Chaytor, J. D.; Quattrini,
Benthic Macrofaunal Communities at Newly Explored Caribbean Seamounts in the Greater/Lesser Antilles Transition Zone and a Comparison to Nearby Habitats

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's act ...

, Ocean Sciences Meeting 2016, abstract #ME31B-01 Investigations by the research vessel EV ''Nautilus'' in 2014 found a variety of stony corals ('' scleractinians''),

octocorals Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a class of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans ...

, and

sponges Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through ...

./ E/V Nautilus: Seamounts of Anegada Passage 2014. Mission Plan.

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

Corals created habitat for

brittle stars 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 ...

squat lobster Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongside ...

s and

sea snails Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

. In the sea depth there are variety of fish — Acanthonus armatus, Bathypterois phenax,

Bembrops ''Bembrops'' is a genus of fish, it is the type genus of the subfamily Bembropinae of the family Percophidae. Species The following species are classified as members of the genus ''Bembrops'': * '' Bembrops anatirostris'' Ginsburg, 1955 * ' ...

, Conger esculentus,

Coryphaenoides ''Coryphaenoides'' is a genus of rattails which is found in all oceans of the world. They are found in deep waters and ''C. yaquinae'', recorded to , is the only member in the family known from the hadal zone. The generic name means "similar to ...

Hexanchus griseus The bluntnose sixgill shark (''Hexanchus griseus''), often simply called the cow shark, is the largest hexanchoid shark, growing to in length. It is found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide and its diet is widely varied by region. The ...

, Lepidion, Luciobrotula corethromycter, and Polymixia lowei.Polymixia lowei, 527-810 m Noroit Seamount, Caribbean.
World Register of Deep-Sea Species (WoRDSS)

References

{{Reflist Seamounts of the Caribbean Extinct volcanoes