{{Short description|Seamount chain in South Pacific ocean}} {{Infobox seamount | name = Tarava Seamounts | depth = | height = | summit_area = | location = South Pacific Ocean | group = | coordinates = {{coord|18.3|S|153|W|display=it|format=dms|notes={{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=118}}}} | country = | type = Seamount chain | age = {{Geological range|43.5|36.1|ref={{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=119}}}} | discovered = | relief = | map_size = | map_caption = Tarava Seamounts | label = | image_caption = | image = | map={{OSM Location map | coord ={{coord|-18|-152.3}} | caption = | float = center | zoom= 6 | width= 300 | height= 280 | minimap=file top left | mini-file=Pacific Ocean laea location map.svg | mini-width=71 | mini-height=64 | minipog-gx=60 | minipog-gy=60 | minimap-boxwidth =10 <!-- the optional 'D' values become Defaults for subsequent parameter sets --> | markD = Yellow pog.svg | mark-sizeD = 9 | label-sizeD = 8 | label-colorD = black | label-posD = right | arc-latA = -17.18 | arc-lonA =-154.2 | arc-angleA=10 | arc-gapA=0.7 | arc-radiusA=1.9 | arc-text-colorA=white | arc-text-sizeA=20 | arc-textA=Tarava Seamounts <!---| mark-size=0 | label =Tarava Seamounts | mark-coord = {{coord|-17.4|-154.0}} | mark-description =Tarava Seamounts | label-size =20 | label-color =#ffffff ---> | label1 = Arere Seamount | mark-coord1 = {{coord|-16.808333|-155.193333}} | mark-title1 = Arere Seamount | mark-description1 = Arere Seamount is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | label2 = Orio'Mata Seamount | mark-coord2 = {{coord|-17.813333|-154.075}} | mark-title2 = Orio'Mata Seamount | mark-description2=Orio'Mata Seamount is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | label3 = Otu'eroa Seamount | mark-coord3 = {{coord|-18.22|-152.748333 }} | mark-title3 = Otu'eroa Seamount | mark-description3=Otu'eroa (‘Otu‘eroa Seamount) is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | label4 = Honu Seamount | mark-coord4 = {{coord|-18.376667|-154.09}} | mark-title4 = Honu Seamount | mark-description4 = Honu Seamount is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | label5 = Otaha Seamount | mark-coord5 = {{coord|-18.758333|-152.24}} | mark-title5 = Otaha Seamount | label-offset-y5=-5 | mark-description5 = Otaha Seamount is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | label6 = Ua'ao Seamount | mark-coord6 = {{coord|-18.916667|-151.838333}} | mark-title6 = Ua'ao Seamount | mark-description6 = Ua'ao Seamount is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | label7 = Fafa Piti Seamount | mark-coord7 = {{coord|-18.961667|-154.096667}} | mark-title7 = Fafa Piti Seamount | mark-description7 = Fafa Piti Seamount (43.5 ± 0.6 Ma) is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | label8 = Punu Taipu Guyot | mark-coord8 = {{coord|-19.275|-150.98}} | mark-title8 = Punu Taipu Guyot | mark-description8= Punu Taipu Guyot (36.1 ± 0.5 Ma) is a member of the Tarava Seamounts | mark-size9=0 | label9 =Papeete | mark-coord9 = {{coord|-17.535|-149.5696}} | mark-description9 =Papeete | label-pos9 =left | label-size9 =12 | label-offset-y9=10 }} }}
The '''Tarava Seamounts''' are a group of seamounts in the southern Pacific Ocean, southwest of the Society Islands. They are formed by five guyots and a number of cone-shaped seamounts. Of Eocene-Oligocene age, they may have formed under the influence of a hotspot.
== Geography and geology ==
The Tarava Seamounts are also known as the Savannah Seamounts{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=118}} and were discovered during the 1996 ZEPOLYF1 oceanographic cruise.{{sfn|Delavenne|Keszler|Castelin|Lozouet|2019|p=4}} East of the Tarava Seamounts lie the Va'a Tau Piti seamounts, which were sometimes considered part of the Tarava Seamounts but are considered geologically separate owing to their different configuration (east-west rather than northwest-southeast),{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=119}} which may reflect an origin close to the East Pacific Rise.{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=121}}
=== Regional ===
Linear chains of volcanoes in the Pacific have been attributed to deep mantle plumes,{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=117}} but a number of such chains appear to correspond to short lasting volcanism, such as processes triggered by tension in the Pacific Plate.{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=118}}
The South Pacific Superswell is a large structure in the southern Pacific Ocean, where there are many volcanoes and the seafloor is unusually shallow. Asthenospheric processes may be responsible for its existence.{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=119}}
=== Local ===
{{GeoGroup}}
The Tarava Seamounts consist of eighteen separate edifices{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=121}} which extend across six longitudes and four latitudes{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=119}} over a length of {{convert|700|km}},{{sfn|Beu|Bouchet|Jean|2012|p=63}} {{convert|200|km}} away from the Society Islands.{{sfn|Sedov|Kazakevich|Matveenkov|Volokitina|2008|p=579}} Aside from five large guyots which reach depths of {{convert|580|m}} below sea level, the Tarava Seamounts consist of {{convert|4000|-|4500|m}} high cones.{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=121,122}} Among the named edifices are Arere (‘Arere, {{coord|-16.808333|-155.193333}}<ref name="Arere" />), Fafa Piti ({{coord|-18.961667|-154.096667}}),<ref name="Fafapiti" /> Honu ({{coord|-18.376667|-154.09}}),<ref name="Honu" /> Orio'Mata (‘Ori‘o Mata Seamount {{coord|-17.813333|-154.075}}),<ref name="Oriomata" /> Otaha ( ‘Otaha Seamount {{coord|-18.758333|-152.24}}),<ref name="Otaha" /> Otu'eroa (‘Otu‘eroa Seamount {{coord|-18.22|-152.748333 }}),<ref name="Otueroa" /> Punu Taipu Guyot ({{coord|-19.275|-150.98}})<ref name="Punutaipu" /> and Ua'ao.({{coord|-18.916667|-151.838333}})<ref name="Uaao" />{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=120}}
The seamounts are considered to be of Eocene-Oligocene age.{{sfn|Sedov|Kazakevich|Matveenkov|Volokitina|2008|p=584}} Only two seamounts have been dated, both by potassium-argon dating: Fafa Piti has yielded ages of 43.5 ± 0.6 million years ago and Punu Taipu of 36.1 ± 0.5 million years ago.{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=119}} Such ages are consistent with an age progressive volcanism caused by a hotspot, whose volcano-building activity was influenced by lithospheric anomalies,{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=128}} considering that there is a discontinuity in the chain which would have formed about 43 million years ago<ref name="ClouardBonneville2005" /> at the time of a major change in the motion of the Pacific Plate.<ref name="Fontaine2007" /> The hotspot in question may be the Foundation hotspot, the Pitcairn hotspot<ref name="MorganMorgan2007" /> or a now extinct third hotspot.{{sfn|Clouard|Bonneville|Gillot|2003|p=128}} Alternatively, the formation of the Tuamotu Plateau may have induced tectonic stress that propagated towards the location of the future Tarava Seamounts.{{sfn|Sedov|Kazakevich|Matveenkov|Volokitina|2008|p=584}}
== Biology ==
Deep-sea animals such as these living on the Tarava Seamounts and their slopes have drawn attention, since they are poorly researched and possibly under threat from climate change and deep-sea mining.{{sfn|Delavenne|Keszler|Castelin|Lozouet|2019|p=9}} The Tarava Seamounts are considered potential mining sites for polymetallic crusts.<ref name="Andréfouët2019" /> Several new species have been discovered on the Tarava Seamounts, such as the ''Lophiodes iwamotoi'' anglerfish,<ref name="HoSeret2011" /> the cone snail ''Profundiconus tarava'',<ref name="Tenorio2016" /> the majoid crab ''Samadinia longispina''<ref name="NGForges2013" /> and pectinoid ''Parvamussium vesiculosum''.<ref name="DijkstraMaestrati2013" /> Numerous deep-sea rissoidae snails have been described from the Tarava Seamounts.<ref name="Amati2022" /> Other species found there are ''Propeamussium watsoni'' together with five other pectinoids,<ref name="DijkstraMaestrati2013" /> and tonnoidean gastropods.{{sfn|Beu|Bouchet|Jean|2012|p=108}} <gallery> File:Parvamussium vesiculosum 001.jpg|''Parvamussium vesiculosum'' (holotype in MNHN, Paris) </gallery>
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name="Fafapiti">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:Fafa Piti|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8237|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Honu">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:Honu|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8242|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Oriomata">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:'Ori'o Mata|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8254|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Otaha">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:Otaha|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8255|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Otueroa">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:Otu'eroa|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=25010|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Punutaipu">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:Punu Taipu|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8261|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Uaao">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:Ua'ao|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8270|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Arere">{{cite web|title =Marine Gazetteer Place details:Arere|url =https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8225|access-date =21 March 2024}}</ref> <ref name="Amati2022">{{cite journal |last1=Amati |first1=Bruno |last2=Giulio |first2=Andrea Di |last3=Oliverio |first3=Marco |title=Deep-water Rissoidae of the genera Benthonella Dall, 1889 and Benthonellania Lozouet, 1990 (Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda, Rissooidea) from French Polynesia |journal=Zoosystema |date=28 June 2022 |volume=44 |issue=12 |doi=10.5252/zoosystema2022v44a12 |url=https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/zoosystema/44/12 |language=en}}</ref> <ref name="Andréfouët2019">{{Citation|last1=Andréfouët|first1=Serge|title=French Polynesia|date=2019|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780081008539000397|work=World Seas: an Environmental Evaluation|page=845|via=ResearchGate|publisher=Elsevier|language=en|doi=10.1016/b978-0-08-100853-9.00039-7|isbn=978-0-08-100853-9|access-date=2021-10-19|last2=Adjeroud|first2=Mehdi|s2cid=263724857 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> <ref name="Tenorio2016">{{Cite journal|last1=Tenorio|first1=Manuel J.|last2=Castelin|first2=Magalie|date=2016-01-29|title=Genus Profundiconus Kuroda, 1956 (Gastropoda, Conoidea): Morphological and molecular studies, with the description of five new species from the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia|journal=European Journal of Taxonomy|issue=173|pages=15|doi=10.5852/ejt.2016.173|issn=2118-9773|doi-access=free}}</ref> <ref name="HoSeret2011">{{Cite journal|last1=Ho|first1=H.-C.|last2=Séret|first2=B.|last3=Shao|first3=K.-T.|date=2011-12-01|title=Records of anglerfishes (Lophiiformes: Lophiidae) from the western South Pacific Ocean, with descriptions of two new species|journal=Journal of Fish Biology|volume=79|issue=7|pages=1722–45|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03106.x|pmid=22141884|bibcode=2011JFBio..79.1722H |s2cid=916582|issn=1095-8649}}</ref> <ref name="MorganMorgan2007">{{Cite report|title=Plate velocities in hotspot reference frame: electronic supplement|first1=W. Jason|last1=Morgan|first2=Jason Phipps|last2=Morgan|url=https://gsapubs.figshare.com/articles/book/Supplemental_material_Plate_velocities_in_the_hotspot_reference_frame/12337703|date=2007|pages=73–74|url-access=<!--WP:URLACCESS-->}}</ref> <ref name="Fontaine2007">{{Cite journal|last1=Fontaine|first1=Fabrice R.|last2=Barruol|first2=Guilhem|last3=Tommasi|first3=Andréa|last4=Bokelmann|first4=Götz H. R.|date=2007-09-01|title=Upper-mantle flow beneath French Polynesia from shear wave splitting|journal=Geophysical Journal International|volume=170|issue=3|pages=1283|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246x.2007.03475.x|issn=0956-540X|doi-access=free|bibcode=2007GeoJI.170.1262F |hdl=1885/34185|hdl-access=free}}</ref> <ref name="ClouardBonneville2005">{{Cite book|last1=Clouard|first1=Valérie|last2=Bonneville|first2=Alain|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8137-2388-4|pages=71–90|doi=10.1130/0-8137-2388-4.71|title = Special Paper 388: Plates, plumes and paradigms|volume = 388|s2cid=133484558}}</ref> <ref name="NGForges2013">{{Cite journal|last1=NG|first1=PETER K.L.|last2=FORGES|first2=BERTRAND RICHER DE|date=2013-10-07|title=''Samadinia longispina'', a new genus and species of deep-sea spider crab from the western Pacific, and a new species of ''Rochinia'' A. Milne-Edwards, 1875, from Papua New Guinea (Crustacea: Brachyura: Majoidea: Epialtidae)|journal=Zootaxa|volume=3718|issue=4|pages=357–66|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3718.4.5|pmid=26258232|issn=1175-5334}}</ref> <ref name="DijkstraMaestrati2013">{{Cite journal|last1=Dijkstra|first1=Henk H.|last2=Maestrati|first2=Philippe|date=2013-09-01|title=Pectinoidea (Bivalvia: Propeamussiidae, Entoliidae and Pectinidae) from the Tarava Seamounts, Society Islands and the Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia)|journal=Zoosystema|volume=35|issue=3|pages=361–375|doi=10.5252/z2013n3a2|s2cid=85597202|issn=1280-9551|url=http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/record/460188}}</ref> }}
=== Sources === {{refbegin}} * {{cite journal|last1=Beu|first1=Alan|last2=Bouchet|first2=Philippe|last3=Jean|first3=Tröndlé|date=2012|title=Tonnoidean gastropods of French Polynesia.|journal=Molluscan Research|volume=32|issue=2 |pages=61–120|doi=10.11646/mr.32.2.1 }} * {{Cite journal|last1=Clouard|first1=Valérie|last2=Bonneville|first2=Alain|last3=Gillot|first3=Pierre-Yves|title=The Tarava Seamounts: a newly characterized hotspot chain on the South Pacific Superswell|date=2003|journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters|volume=207|issue=1–4|pages=117–130|doi=10.1016/s0012-821x(02)01143-3|bibcode=2003E&PSL.207..117C }} * {{cite journal |last1=Delavenne |first1=Juliette |last2=Keszler |first2=Louise |last3=Castelin |first3=Magalie |last4=Lozouet |first4=Pierre |last5=Maestrati |first5=Philippe |last6=Samadi |first6=Sarah |title=Deep-sea benthic communities in the largest oceanic desert are structured by the presence of polymetallic crust |journal=Scientific Reports |date=6 May 2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=6977 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-43325-0 |pmid=31061398 |pmc=6502874 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.6977D |language=en |issn=2045-2322}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Sedov|first1=A. P.|last2=Kazakevich|first2=G. I.|last3=Matveenkov|first3=V. V.|last4=Volokitina|first4=L. P.|last5=Luk’yanov|first5=S. V.|last6=Rashidov|first6=V. A.|date=2008-08-01|title=Mechanism of the formation of volcanic chains of French Polynesia|journal=Oceanology|volume=48|issue=4|pages=578–587|doi=10.1134/S0001437008040127|bibcode=2008Ocgy...48..578S |s2cid=140187208|issn=0001-4370}}
{{refend}}
== External links == * [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Rabiller/publication/292155598_Conus_Gastropoda_Conidae_from_offshore_French_Polynesia_Description_of_dredging_from_Tarasoc_expedition_with_new_records_and_new_species_by_Michael_RABILLER_and_Georges_RICHARD/links/56ab853e08ae8f386569badd/Conus-Gastropoda-Conidae-from-offshore-French-Polynesia-Description-of-dredging-from-Tarasoc-expedition-with-new-records-and-new-species-by-Michael-RABILLER-and-Georges-RICHARD.pdf The context of the TARASOC cruise], description of some species found on the Tarava seamounts. * Peñas A. & Rolán E., 2017 ''Deep water Pyramidelloidea from the Central and south Pacific. The Tibe Chrysallidini.'' ECIMAT (Estación de Ciencias Mariñas de Toralla) - Universidade de Vigo, 412 pp
Category:Geology of the Pacific Ocean Category:Hotspots of the Pacific Ocean Category:Oligocene volcanism Category:Seamount chains Category:Seamounts of the Pacific Ocean Category:Guyots