The Muirfield Seamount is a submarine mountain located in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

approximately 130 kilometres (70 nautical miles) southwest of the

Cocos (Keeling) Islands The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (), officially the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (; ), are an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, comprising a small archipelago approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka and rel ...

. The Cocos Islands are an Australian territory, and therefore the Muirfield Seamount is within Australia's

Exclusive Economic Zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

(EEZ). The Muirfield Seamount is a submerged

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

, approximately in diameter and below the surface of the sea. A 1999 biological survey of the seamount performed by the Australian

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

(CSIRO) revealed that the area is depauperate. The Muirfield Seamount was discovered accidentally in 1973 when the cargo ship MV ''Muirfield'' (a merchant vessel named after Muirfield,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

) was underway in waters charted at a depth of greater than , when she suddenly struck an unknown object, resulting in extensive damage to her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

.Calder, Nigel. ''How to Read a Navigational Chart: A Complete Guide to the Symbols, Abbreviations, and Data Displayed on Nautical Charts.'' International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2002. In 1983, , a

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

survey ship, surveyed the area where ''Muirfield'' was damaged, and charted in detail this previously unsuspected hazard to

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

. The dramatic accidental discovery of the Muirfield Seamount is often cited as an example of limitations in the vertical

datum Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous value (semiotics), values that convey information, describing the quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols t ...

accuracy of some offshore areas as represented on

nautical chart A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...

especially on small- scale charts. More recently, in 2005 the submarine ran into an uncharted seamount about 560 kilometers (350 statute miles) south of

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

at a speed of , sustaining serious damage and killing one seaman.

References

External links

* {{cite web, url=http://www.marine.csiro.au/nationalfacility/franklin/plans/2001/fr07_99.html, title=Franklin Voyage Summary No. FR07/99, publisher=CSIRO, year=2003 Physical oceanography Seamounts of the Indian Ocean Former islands from the last glacial maximum

See also

References

External links