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Cobb Seamount is ~ 100 km west of the Cobb hot spot, currently feeding Axial Seamount on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. It is ~ 3.3 Ma in age. The flat-topped summit is at a depth of 200-300 m. It was formed when the summit was above sea level. The inset of Cobb is after Chaytor et al., Seamount morphology in the Bowie and Cobb hot spot trails, Gulf of Alaska. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., doi:10.1029/2007GC001712. Credit. D.S. Kelley, University of Washington.

Axial Seamount rises to a depth of ~ 1500 m beneath the oceans surface and is cut by the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Transform faults and fracture zones bounding tectonic plates off Vancouver Island south to California. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization and D. Kelley, University of Washington.

The intermediate spreading Juan de Fuca Ridge hosts multiple segments. A hot spot underlies the ridge beneath Axial Seamount. The Cobb-Eickeberg Seamount chain marks the migration of the Pacific Plate over time. Transform faults and fracture zones bounding tectonic plates off Vancouver Island south to California. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization and D. Kelley, University of Washington.

Transform faults and fracture zones bounding tectonic plates off Vancouver Island south to California. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization and D. Kelley, University of Washington.

Tectonic plates off Vancouver Island south to California. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization and D. Kelley, University of Washington.

Bathymetric map showing the tectonic plates from California north to Vancover Island. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization and D. Kelley, University of Washington.

A basic bathymetric map centered on the Juan de Fuca Plate. Credit: Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization, UW.

Convection cells beneath mid-ocean ridges (divergent plate boundaries) are sites where melt rises up from the mantle. At convergent plate boundaries the oceanic crust and sediments are subducted beneath the bounding plate. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization, UW.

A map of seafloor magnetics highlights the mid-ocean ridge spreading center network that forms the longest mountain chain on Earth. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization, UW.

volcanoes animation slide

The 70,000 km of the mid-ocean ridge spreading centers forms the longest mountain chain on Earth, and is where 75% of the volcanism on our planet occurs. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization, University of Washington.

Ocean Structures off the Coast of North America. Credit: D. Kelley, UW

Ocean Plate Environments and Processes. Credit: Center for Environmental Visualization, UW.

Tectonic Plates Around The Globe. Credit: Center for Environemental Visualization, University of Washington.

Thick, yellow bacterial mats colonize basalt flows in the ASHES hydrothermal field at ASHES. dead tube work casings and brittle stars are also observed. Credit: UW/BEOM/WHOI; V21.

Screen shot Extreme Environment Video

The North American Plate off the coast is bounded by four tectonic plates to thw est (Gorda, Juan de Fuca, Pacific, and Explorer. The plates boundaries are defined by the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the Gorda, Juan de Fuca and Explorer mid-mid ocean ridge spreading centers, and a series of transform faults (also known as fracture zones. Environments closer to shore include the shelf, slope and abyssal plain. A seamount chain marks the movement of the Pacific Plate over a "hot spot" on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and includes the Cobb Seamount guyot. Credit: D. Kelley, University of Washington.

A blue shark visits the ROV ROPOS at the Oregon Offshore site. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF; V22.

Very thick white bacterial mats colonize the edges of the collapse zone at Smokey Caverns. A small pocket of clams is near the summit of the collapsed area. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V18.

Hummocky terrain characterizes the Smokey Taverns site at Southern Hydrate Ridge. White bacterial mats are common on the summits and sides of the hummocks. Rockfish, hagfish and clam chaff dot the landscape. The edge of a large collapse zone is to the right. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V18 .