Orca Seamount
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| Orca Seamount | |
|---|---|
 Bathemetric mapping of the seamount, mapped with the swath sonar system of RV Polarstern during cruise ANT-XI/3. | |
 Location of Orca Seamount | |
| Height | About 500 m (1,600 ft) |
| Location | |
| Location | Near King George Island, Antarctica |
| Coordinates | 62°26′00″S 58°24′00″W / 62.433334°S 58.400002°W |
| Geology | |
| Type | Underwater volcano (Seamount) |
Orca Seamount is a submarine volcano near King George Island in Antarctica, in the Bransfield Strait. While it is inactive,[citation needed] the last volcanic activity at Orca Seamount is judged to have occurred in the recent past as there are temperature anomalies in the seawater around the seamount.[1] Thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms have been found at the seamount.[1]
The crater rim is about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and about 500 m (1,600 ft) above the ocean floor.[2]
The seamount was first named by Professor O. González-Ferrán of Chile in 1987, after the orca (killer whale) often sighted in these waters.[3][4] It was mapped and studied by the ship RV Polarstern during an Antarctic cruise (number ANT-XI/3) in 2005.[5] The variant name of Viehoff Seamount (approved in 6/95 ACUF 263) was named for Dr. Thomas Viehoff, a remote sensing specialist in marine sciences. Name proposed by Dr. G.B. Udintsev, Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry (VIG).[6]
