Esmeralda Bank is located approximately 37 km west of Tinian. There are two shallow banks plotted near Esmeralda Bank and NOAA's Nautical Chart 81004 shows four soundings less than 80 m in depth. One of these is a kidney-shaped area labeled "Active Sulphur Boil (1945)" with a depth of 30 fathoms (55 m) indicated on the chart. This bank does not exist, while the other bank and Esmeralda Bank are smaller than indicated on the chart. A multibeam survey of Esmeralda Bank was carried out during the NOAA Ring of Fire cruise in April 2004. The Bank appears to have experienced recent volcanic activity and shows signs of current hydrothermal circulation.
Cruises CoRIS Metadata Record Names
OES0307 cred_toad_emeralda_bank_oes0307_2003
Resource Description: Digital video images that are geo-referenced to navigation files.