Adams Seamount

About Adams Seamount

Adams Seamount was constructed above the Pitcairn hot spot in the central Pacific, about 90 km WSW of Pitcairn Island. The massive seamount rises about 3,500 m to within 59 m of the ocean surface about 25 km SE of Bounty Seamount. Bounty Seamount, which rises to within 450 m of the oceans surface, appears morphologically more youthful than Adams and water samples indicate continuing hydrothermal activity, two late-Pleistocene Potassium-Argon dates of about 338,000 and 350,000 years were obtained from the flanks. Alkali basaltic rocks were dredged from the flanks of Adams Seamount, whose summit appears to consist of a trachytic lava dome. Several Potassium-Argon dates of Holocene age were obtained from dredges at Adams Seamount (Guillou et al., 1997), the youngest of which was 2,000 +/- 1,000 years. In addition to the Adams and Bounty seamounts, the Pitcairn chain contains about 20 small volcanic cones about 500 m high.