Bear Seamount

Bear Seamount
3-D depiction of Bear Seamount, with Physalia Seamount in the background.
Summit depth	1,100 m (3,600 ft)
Height	2,000 m (6,600 ft)
Location
Location	North Atlantic Ocean, about 200 miles (320 km) from Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Coordinates	39°55′N 67°24′W / 39.917°N 67.400°W / 39.917; -67.400Coordinates: 39°55′N 67°24′W / 39.917°N 67.400°W / 39.917; -67.400
Geology
Type	Guyot
Volcanic arc/chain	New England Seamounts
Age of rock	100–103 million years

The Bear Seamount is a guyot or flat-topped underwater volcano in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the oldest of the New England Seamounts, which was active more than 100 million years ago. It was formed when the North American Plate moved over the New England hotspot. It is located inside the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which was proclaimed by President of the United States Barack Obama to protect the seamount's biodiversity.

The Bear Seamount is the first guyot in a chain of about 30 extinct volcanoes extending in a straight line south-eastwards from the edge of the continental shelf near Woods Hole, Massachusetts to north-east of Bermuda. These seamounts resulted from the movement of a mantle plume hotspot. This hotspot is now under the Great Meteor Seamount. The chain rises about 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above the surrounding Sohm Abyssal Plain. Over time they have been eroded and have developed flat table-like summits surrounded by slopes with an inclination of about 20°. The currents in the vicinity of the Bear Seamount include the warm water Gulf Stream flowing towards the north east, the deep boundary current flowing along the continental shelf towards the south west, and the deep, icy cold Antarctic bottom water that flows past the lower flanks of the chain.

Bear Seamount rises approximately 2,000 to 3,000 metres (6,600 to 9,800 ft) above the surrounding seabed and the roughly flat summit is about 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) below the surface of the sea. The top is covered by a deep layer of sediment through which basaltic rocks and erratic boulders protrude. Much of this material has fallen from above, probably from icebergs that drifted southwards during the .