Physiography of the Orca Seamount in the Bransfield Strait, Antarctic Peninsula

Extract from related chapter 5.5.2 in reference: The Orca Seamount was discovered in the central basin of the Bransfield Strait around the posit 62°26'S and 58°24'W on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the most western area of the south polar continent. Through the discovery was made known in 1987, it was only during three bathymetric surveys with high resolution fan echosounders between 1993 and 1995 that the character and complete shape of a remarkable volcano seamount became evident. The data acquisition and processing revealed a spectacular crater of 350 m depth. The relative hight of this 3 km wide "caldera" rim is 550 m with a basal diameter of the seamount cone of 11 km. Its flanks are about 15° steep but in some places the slope reaches up to 36°. The nearly circular shape of the Orca edifice spreads outh with several pronounced spurs, trending parallel to the basin axis in a northeast-southwest direction. The Bransfield Strait is a trough-shaped basin of 400 km length and 2 km depth between the South Shetland Island Arc and the Antarctic Peninsula, formed by rifting behind the islands. The separation of the South Shetland island chain from the peninsula began possibly several million years ago. The active rifting is still going on however, and has caused recent earthquakes and volcanism along the Bransfield Strait. The Strait hosts a chain of submerged seamounts of volcanic origin with the presently inactive Ora Seamount as the most spectacular one. The South Shelfand Island owe their existence to a subduction related volcanism which is perhaps 5-10 times older than the age of Orca and the other seamounts along the central basin of the Bransfield Strait.