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The Great Meteor Seamount is a large guyot (tablemount) located south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the New England hotspot's most recent eruptive center and is one of the most completely investigated seamounts in the world. This guyot rises up from a depth of almost 4,800 meters to about 270 meters below the surface of the Atlantic. The summit measures 50 km x 28 km (1465 km²). On the southwest side it is flanked by the smaller Little Meteor Seamount〔(METEOR ) Retrieved on 2007-10-04〕 and the still smaller Closs Seamount. The German research vessel ''Meteor'' discovered the tablemount between 1925 and 1927. It was given the name Great Meteor ''Bank'', a designation still used in the official GEBCO gazetteer. ==Formation== The New England hotspot formed the White Mountains 124 to 100 million years ago when the North American continent was directly overhead. As the continent drifted to the west, the hotspot gradually moved offshore. On a southeasterly course, the hotspot formed Bear Seamount, the oldest in the chain, about 100 to 103 million years ago. Over the course of millions of years, it continued creating the rest of the seamounts, eventually culminating in the Nashville Seamount about 83 million years ago. As the Atlantic Ocean continued to spread, the hotspot eventually "traveled" further east, forming the Great Meteor Seamount where it is found today.〔Revised August 25, 2010 by the Ocean Explorer〕 == Ecology == The unique ecological condition of the Great Meteor Seamount is shown by the many endemic copepod and nematode species.〔 ( SPOTLIGHT 5 ''Great Meteor Seamount'' ) 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Great Meteor Seamount」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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