THE HUBERT MILLER SEAMOUNT, MARIE BYRD SEAMOUNTS PROVINCE, WEST ANTARCTIC, SOUTHERN OCEAN

Abstract

The northern mountainous province of the underwater margin of Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is named the Marie Byrd Seamounts. Until recently, the relief of this segment of the continental slope of West Antarctica was poorly known. The maps based on satellite altimetry data and multibeam echo sounding survey carried out by several cruises demonstrated that this structure represents a chain of approximately 20 seamounts. It is located in the Amundsen Sea north of the MBL about 300 miles from the margin of the Pine Island Bay shelf and extends in the latitudinal direction between 68° and 70° S from 115° to 130° W. One of the largest seamounts from this group, which was named after a German geophysicist, was first studied in 2001. The geological–geophysical data suggest that the Hubert Miller Seamount (HBS) formed in the course of volcanotectonic reworking of the MBL margin in response to geodynamic development of the Tasman–Antarctic gateway in the Southern Ocean.