Submarine Channel Association with Seamount Chain Alignment on the Ontong Java Plateau

The Ontong Java Plateau (OJP), north of the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, is a submerged seafloor platform, larger than Alaska and full of intricate systems of channels, atolls and seamounts. This area has remained relatively unstudied because of both the area’s remote location and low number of ships carrying advanced sonar systems. The OJP is believed to have been formed by one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth’s history. This study uses EM302 multibeam sonar data collected on the R/V Falkor in 2014 by the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies to better understand relationships between the seafloor geomorphology and tectonic processes that formed numerous unexplored seamounts. The area surveyed is situated along the OJP’s central northeast margin, and includes a small chain of six seamounts that range from 300 to 700 m in vertical relief. These seamounts are situated within the axis of a major 14 km wide submarine channel that was likely formed by a sequence of turbidity currents. Using CARIS HIPS and SIPS 9.0 post-processing software, seamount and channel morphology were characterized with 2 dimensional profiles and 3 dimensional images. Backscatter intensity was used to identify relative substrate hardness of the seamounts and surrounding seafloor areas. Scour and depositional features from the turbidity flows are evident at the base of several seamounts, indicating that the submarine channel bifurcated when turbidity flows encountered the seamount chain.