Gascoyne Seamount


Gascoyne Seamount, also called Gascoyne Guyot or Gascoyne Tablemount, is a guyot in the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean.

Geography

Located east of the Australian coastal town of Bermagui, Gascoyne Seamount is the southernmost and youngest significant seamount of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain. This is an underwater mountain range extending some to the north. The Tasmantid Seamount Chain has resulted from the Indo-Australian Plate moving northward over a stationary hotspot.

Geology

The seamount is about 7 million years old. It incorporates a tropical to subtropical, very shallow water calcareous algal/encrusting foraminiferid biota, suggesting deposition in water deep. Age diagnostic forms have not been recovered.
Gascoyne Seamount is named after HMAS Gascoyne, one of two ships in the Royal Australian Navy assigned to Australian programs in the International Indian Ocean Expedition, which took place from 1960 to 1965.