Musicians Seamounts are a chain of

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 a ...

s in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

, north of the

Hawaiian Ridge The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmo ...

. There are about 65 seamounts, some of which are named after musicians. These seamounts exist in two chains, one of which has been attributed to a probably now-extinct

hotspot Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to: Places * Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett * Hot Spot (Tra ...

called the Euterpe hotspot. Others may have formed in response to

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label= Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large t ...

associated with the boundary between the

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and I ...

and the former

Farallon Plate The Farallon Plate was an ancient oceanic plate. It formed one of the three main plates of Panthalassa, alongside the Phoenix Plate and Izanagi Plate, which were connected by a triple junction. The Farallon Plate began subducting under the w ...

. The seamounts were constructed on young

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafi ...

during the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

, but a second phase of volcanic activity took place during the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

. Deep sea coral reefs occur on the seamounts.

Geography and geomorphology

The Musicians Seamounts lie in the north-central Pacific, north of the Hawaiian Ridge north and northwest of Necker Island, extending over a length of . The seamounts were formerly known as the North Hawaiian Seamount Range and were among the first submarine mountains to be thoroughly researched. Pillow balls on Mozart Seamount

The seamounts consist of two separate chains (one trending in north-south direction parallel to the

Emperor Seamounts An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (emp ...

and the other in northwest-southeast direction parallel to the northern

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Haw ...

) of ridges that extend east-west and seamounts. Seamounts have usually an elliptical cross section and heights of and no flat tops like other seamounts south of the Hawaiian Ridge; the highest is Liszt Seamount whose summit has a depth of . The ridges contain individual volcanoes and reach lengths of over ; in the Italian and Bach Ridges the volcanoes are high. The Musicians horst and the Southern Ridges are additional features of the Musicians Seamounts. Larger than the seamounts are volcanic lineaments, on which the seamounts formed. Terrain observed by

remotely operated vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''. Definition This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the ...

s shows large blocks,

pillow lava Pillow lavas are lavas that contain characteristic pillow-shaped structures that are attributed to the extrusion of the lava underwater, or ''subaqueous extrusion''. Pillow lavas in volcanic rock are characterized by thick sequences of disconti ...

s, flat terrain,

lava flow Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

s and talus. The total number of seamounts is about 65, some of which

Henry William Menard Henry William Menard (December 10, 1920 – February 9, 1986) was an American geologist. Life and career He earned a B.S. and M.S. from the California Institute of Technology in 1942 and 1947, having served in the South Pacific during World War ...

named after 18th century musicians. Among the seamounts known by name are: * The "Northwest Cluster" * Rossini () * Bizet () * Godard () * Wagner () * Shostakovich () * Strauss () * Bellini () * Verdi () * Puccini () * Schubert () * Donizetti () * Hammerstein () * Mahler () * Brahms () * Mussorgski () * Debussy () * Dvorak () * Rachmaninoff () * Tchaikovsky () * Liszt () * Paganini () * Mozart () * Khachaturian () * Grieg () * Gounod () * Handel () * Scarlatti () * Ravel () * Gluck () * Sibelius () * Chopin () * Haydn () * Bach Ridge () * West Schumann * West Mendelssohn * East Mendelssohn * Prokofiev () * Paumakua ().

Geology

The Pacific Ocean floor beneath the seamounts is of

age and is subdivided by the

Murray Fracture Zone Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian whol ...

into an older northern (100 to 95 million years ago) and a younger southern (80 to 85 million years ago) sector. To the north, the Musicians Seamounts are limited by the

Pioneer Fracture Zone Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

. The Musicians Seamounts developed on crust that was no more than 20 million years old, and

paleomagnetic Paleomagnetism (or palaeomagnetismsee ), is the study of magnetic fields recorded in rocks, sediment, or archeological materials. Geophysicists who specialize in paleomagnetism are called ''paleomagnetists.'' Certain magnetic minerals in rocks ...

information indicates that the seamounts were located between 0 and 10° north of the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can al ...

when they developed. Only several of the seamounts reached above sea level. Rock samples dredged from the seamounts include

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

hawaiite Hawaiite is an olivine basalt with a composition between alkali basalt and mugearite. It was first used as a name for some lavas found on the island of Hawaii. It occurs during the later stages of volcanic activity on oceanic islands such as Haw ...

mugearite Mugearite () is a type of oligoclase-bearing basalt, comprising olivine, apatite, and opaque oxides. The main feldspar in mugearite is oligoclase. Mugearite is a sodium-rich member of the alkaline magma series. In the TAS classification of v ...

and

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and ...

. Minerals contained in the rocks consist of

aegirine Aegirine is a member of the clinopyroxene group of inosilicate minerals. Aegirine is the sodium endmember of the aegirine-augite series. Aegirine has the chemical formula Na Fe Si2 O6 in which the iron is present as Fe3+. In the aegirine-augite ...

augite Augite is a common rock-forming pyroxene mineral with formula . The crystals are monoclinic and prismatic. Augite has two prominent cleavages, meeting at angles near 90 degrees. Characteristics Augite is a solid solution in the pyroxene group ...

clinopyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe II) ...

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feld ...

, oxidized

olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers qui ...

orthopyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe II) ...

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more pro ...

and

pyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe II) ...

Calcite Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on scra ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

and

zeolite Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ･y where is either a metal ion or H+. These ...

s have formed through alteration processes, and

manganese nodule Polymetallic nodules, also called manganese nodules, are mineral concretions on the sea bottom formed of concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core. As nodules can be found in vast quantities, and contain valuable metals, ...

s have been encountered as well. The petrogenesis of Musicians Seamounts

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natura ...

s has been explained by the mixing of several

mantle A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that. Mantle may refer to: *Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear **Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...

-derived components.

Origin

The origin of the seamounts has been explained with either one or two hotspots of

age. Dating of the seamounts supports a hotspot origin only for the northwest-southeast trend, however. This hotspot has been named Euterpe hotspot after

Euterpe Euterpe (; el, Εὐτέρπη, lit=rejoicing well' or 'delight , from grc, εὖ, eû, well + el, τέρπειν, térpein, to please) was one of the Muses in Greek mythology, presiding over music. In late Classical times, she was named muse ...

, Greek

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

of musicians. Plate reconstructions for the time period based on the dates of the northwest-southeast trend and the older

are consistent with each other. It is possible that their formation was influenced by the nearby presence of a

spreading ridge A mid-ocean ridge (MOR) is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It typically has a depth of about and rises about above the deepest portion of an ocean basin. This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a div ...

, a process which has been suggested for other hotspots such as

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

Azores ) , motto= ( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem=( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

and others as well. The

Pacific-Farallon Ridge The Pacific-Farallon Ridge was a spreading ridge during the Late Cretaceous that extended 10,000 km in length and separated the Pacific Plate to the west and the Farallon Plate to the east. It ran south from the Pacific-Farallon-Kula triple ...

was located east of the Musicians Seamounts and flow from the hotspot to the ridge may have generated the east-west trending ridges of the Musicians Seamounts. Alternative explanations for the formation of the Musicians Seamounts is the presence of a former

at their site, and crustal weaknesses associated with the so-called "bending line" in the region which was formed by a change in the motion of the

Geologic context

About 10,000

s and islands are estimated to dot the floor of the Pacific Ocean, forming clusters and chains. The origin of chains of seamounts and islands is commonly explained with the

hypothesis, which posits that as the crust migrates above a stationary hotspot volcanism forms these structures. A further hypothesis states that the hotspots, sourced from

mantle plume A mantle plume is a proposed mechanism of convection within the Earth's mantle, hypothesized to explain anomalous volcanism. Because the plume head partially melts on reaching shallow depths, a plume is often invoked as the cause of volcanic hot ...

s, are static with respect to each other and thus geologists can reconstruct the history of

plate Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...

movement by analyzing the tracks traced on the crust by hotspots. The

contains a number of seamount and island chains, some of which have been attributed to hotspots such as the

Cobb hotspot The Cobb hotspot is a marine volcanic hotspot at (46˚ N, 130˚ W), which is 460 km (290 mi) west of Oregon and Washington, North America, in the Pacific Ocean. Over geologic time, the Earth's surface has migrated with respect to the h ...

Caroline Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

hotspot,

Hawaiian hotspot The Hawaii hotspot is a volcanic hotspot located near the namesake Hawaiian Islands, in the northern Pacific Ocean. One of the best known and intensively studied hotspots in the world, the Hawaii plume is responsible for the creation of the ...

Marquesas hotspot The Marquesas hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is responsible for the creation of the Marquesas Islands – a group of eight main islands and several smaller ones – and a few seamounts. The islands and seamounts for ...

Tahiti hotspot The Society hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the south Pacific Ocean which is responsible for the formation of the Society Islands, an archipelago of fourteen volcanic islands and atolls spanning around 720 km of the ocean which formed between ...

Pitcairn hotspot The Pitcairn hotspot is a volcanic hotspot located in the south-central Pacific Ocean. Over the past 11 million years, it has formed the Pitcairn-Gambier hotspot chain. It is responsible for creating the Pitcairn Islands and two large seamounts ...

Macdonald hotspot The Macdonald hotspot (also known as "Tubuai" or "Old Rurutu") is a volcanic hotspot in the southern Pacific Ocean. The hotspot was responsible for the formation of the Macdonald Seamount, and possibly the Austral-Cook Islands chain. It probably ...

and

Louisville hotspot The Louisville hotspot is a volcanic hotspot responsible for the volcanic activity that has formed the Louisville Ridge in the southern Pacific Ocean. Location The Louisville hotspot is believed to lie close to the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge, altho ...

. Not all of these hotspots are necessarily fed by a deep continuous mantle plume; some may be nourished by discrete batches of melting material that rise through the mantle. Other chains may be controlled by mantle flow towards a

, which has been proposed for the Musicians chain.

Biology

Deep sea coral The habitat of deep-water corals, also known as cold-water corals, extends to deeper, darker parts of the oceans than coral, tropical corals, ranging from near the surface to the abyssal zone, abyss, beyond where water temperatures may be as cold ...

s and

sponge 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 throug ...

s grow on the Musicians Seamounts; corals identified include ''

Antipathes ''Antipathes'' is a genus of coral in the order Antipatharia, composed of black coral (so named for its black skeleton). Distinct features vary greatly within this genus: it contains symmetrically aligned as well as irregularly shaped corals, a r ...

'', ''

Acanthogorgia ''Acanthogorgia'' is a genus of corals belonging to the family Acanthogorgiidae. The genus has cosmopolitan distribution. Species Species: *''Acanthogorgia acrosoma'' *''Acanthogorgia aldabra'' *''Acanthogorgia angustiflora ''Acanthogorg ...

'', chrysogorgidae, ''

Hemicorallium ''Hemicorallium'' is a genus of corals belonging to the family Coralliidae. The species of this genus are found in Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. Species Species: *''Hemicorallium abyssale'' *''Hemicorallium aurantiacum'' *''Hemicorallium bath ...

'', isididae, ''

Paracalyptrophora ''Paracalyptrophora'' is a genus of corals belonging to the family Primnoidae. The species of this genus are found in Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. Species: *''Paracalyptrophora carinata'' *''Paracalyptrophora duplex'' *''Paracalyptrophora ech ...

'', ''

Pleurogorgia ''Pleurogorgia'' is a genus of corals belonging to the family Chrysogorgiidae Chrysogorgiidae is a family of soft corals in the suborder Calcaxonia. References * Bayer, F.M. and K.M. Muzik. 1976. New genera and species of the holaxonian fa ...

'' and primnoids, while sponges include ''

Caulophacus ''Caulophacus elegans'', illustration in: Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-76 - under the command of Captain George S. Nares, R.N., F.R.S. and Captain Frank Turle Thomson, R.N. (1887). '' ...

'', ''

Hyalostylus ''Hyalostylus'' is a genus of sponges belonging to the family Euplectellidae Euplectellidae is a family of glass sponges (Hexactinellids) belonging to the order Lyssacinosa Lyssacinosida is an order of glass sponges belonging to the subclas ...

'', ''

Poliopogon ''Poliopogon'' is a genus of sponges belonging to the family Pheronematidae Pheronematidae is a family of sponges belonging to the order Amphidiscosida Amphidiscosida is an order of hexactinellid sponges characterized by amphidisc spicules, t ...

'' and '' Saccocalyx''. In some places true "coral forests" grow on the seamounts. Animal species observed on the seamounts by

s include amphipods,

anemone ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand ...

anglerfish The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes (). They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified luminescent fin ray (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure for other fish. The luminescence ...

arrow worm The Chaetognatha or chaetognaths (meaning ''bristle-jaws'') are a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of plankton worldwide. Commonly known as arrow worms, about 20% of the known Chaetognatha species are benthic, and can ...

bristlemouth The Gonostomatidae are a family of mesopelagic marine fish, commonly named bristlemouths, lightfishes, or anglemouths. It is a relatively small family, containing only eight known genera and 32 species. However, bristlemouths make up for their l ...

brittle star 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 locom ...

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda ( Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, ...

chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". Biography Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology ...

s, codling fish,

ctenophore Ctenophora (; ctenophore ; ) comprise a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and ...

crinoid Crinoids are marine animals that make up the Class (biology), class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or coma ...

cusk eel The cusk-eel family, Ophidiidae, is a group of marine bony fishes in the Ophidiiformes order. The scientific name is from the Greek ''ophis'' meaning "snake", and refers to their eel-like appearance. True eels, however, diverged from other ra ...

s, fangtooth fish,

halosaur Halosaurs are eel-shaped fishes found only at great ocean depths. As the family Halosauridae, halosaurs are one of two families within the order Notacanthiformes; the other being the deep-sea spiny eels, Notacanthidae. Halosaurs are thought to ...

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

larvacean Larvaceans or appendicularians, class Appendicularia, are solitary, free-swimming tunicates found throughout the world's oceans. Like most tunicates, larvaceans are filter feeders. Unlike most other tunicates, they keep their tadpole-like shape a ...

piglet squid ''Helicocranchia pfefferi'', the banded piglet squid, is a small squid of the genus ''Helicocranchia''. Adults of this species are mesopelaegic. Physical characteristics The average size of adult ''H. pfefferi'' is in mantle length (ML). The ...

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are ...

ribbon worm Nemertea is a phylum of animals also known as ribbon worms or proboscis worms, consisting of 1300 known species. Most ribbon worms are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many h ...

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothu ...

sea elephant Elephant seals are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus ''Mirounga''. Both species, the northern elephant seal (''M. angustirostris'') and the southern elephant seal (''M. leonina''), were hunted to the brink of extinction for oil ...

sea pen Sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians belonging to the order Pennatulacea. There are 14 families within the order; 35 extant genera, and it is estimated that of 450 described species, around 200 are valid. Sea pens have a cos ...

sea spider Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the order Pantopoda ( ‘all feet’), belonging to the class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (; named after ''Pycnogonum'', the type genus; with the suffix '). They are cosmopolitan, fou ...

sea star Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

siphonophore Siphonophorae (from Greek ''siphōn'' 'tube' + ''pherein'' 'to bear') is an order within Hydrozoa, which is a class of marine organisms within the phylum Cnidaria. According to the World Register of Marine Species, the order contains 175 species ...

spider crab The Majoidea are a superfamily of crabs which includes the various spider crabs. Taxonomy In "''A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans''" De Grave and colleagues divided Majoidea into six families: * Family Epia ...

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, alongsi ...

s, urchins and

zoanthids Zoanthids (order Zoantharia also called Zoanthidea or Zoanthiniaria) are an order of cnidarians commonly found in coral reefs, the deep sea and many other marine environments around the world. These animals come in a variety of different colonizi ...

. File:Corals on Mussorgsky Seamount.jpg, File:Corals, Debussy Seamount.jpg, File:Bolosoma sp. on Sibelius Seamount.jpg,

Eruptive history

The Musicians Seamounts were active during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

. Ages obtained on some seamounts range from 96 million years ago for the Northwest Cluster, over 94 million years ago for Hammerstein, 91 million years ago for Mahler, 90 million years ago for Brahms, 86 million years ago for Rachmaninoff, 84 million years ago for Liszt, 83 million years ago for Khatchaturian and West Schumann, 82 million years ago for West Mendelssohn, 79 million years ago for East Mendelssohn, 75 million years ago for Bach Ridge and Haydn to 65 million years ago for Paumakua. Based on considerations derived from

, earlier volcanism could have occurred on the

, which has been

subducted Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

in its entirely and its volcanoes have now vanished. No volcanism in the Musicians Seamounts post-dating about 70 million years ago was discovered at first; either volcanism ceased at that time or it continued on the

again. The Euterpe hotspot is now extinct, although an unusually shallow ocean region around may be a remnant of the Euterpe hotspot. Some of the ridges in the Musicians Seamounts have much younger ages, 53 to 52 million years ago by argon-argon dating and continuing to 48 to 47 million years ago. This volcanism occurred at the time of major changes in the motion of the

; stresses occurring within the plate may have reactivated the Musicians volcanoes and resulted in this late stage activity. One

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

has been recorded in the province during historical time.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

*
Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts
- NOAA expedition to the seamounts. {{Commons category, Musicians Seamounts Volcanoes of the Pacific Ocean Submarine volcanoes Seamounts of the Pacific Ocean Cretaceous volcanism Eocene volcanism

Geography and geomorphology

Geology

Origin

Geologic context

Biology

Eruptive history

See also

Notes

References

Sources

External links