Orca Seamount [SEP] continent
Orca Seamount
Orca Seamount is a seamount (underwater volcano) near King George Island in Antarctica, in the Bransfield Strait. While it is inactive. However last volcanic activity at Orca Seamount is judged to have occurred in the recent past as there are temperature anomalies in the seawater around at the seamount. Thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms organism have been fount at the seamount.
The crater rim is about 3 km wide and about 500 m above the ocean floor.
The seamount was first named by Professor O. González
However last volcanic activity at Orca Seamount is judged to have occurred in the recent past as there are temperature anomalies in the seawater around at the seamount. Thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms organism have been found at the seamount. Thermophiles found on the seafloor outside Orca Seamount may indicate that thermal waters of Orca Seamount may travel laterally through geological structures or that currents bring in thermal water from Deception Island, an active volcano.
Antarctic Specially Protected Area.
An area of relatively shallow marine waters of about 1021 km, off the