Tasmantid Seamount Chain

The Tasmantid Seamount Chain (alternatively Tasmantid Seamounts, Tasman Seamounts, Tasman Seamount Chain, Tasmantide Volcanoes or the Tasmantids) is a 2000 km long chain of seamounts in the South Pacific Ocean. The chain consists of over 16 extinct volcanic peaks, many rising more than 4000 m from the seabed. It is one of the two parallel seamount chains alongside the East Coast of Australia; the Lord Howe and Tasmantid seamount chains both run north-south through parts of the Coral Sea and Tasman Sea. These chains have longitudes of approximately 159°E and 156°E respectively.

Like its neighbour, the Tasmantid Seamount Chain has resulted from the Indo-Australian Plate moving northward over a stationary hotspot. It ranges in age from about 56 to 7 million years old.

Features
The Tasmantid Seamount Chain includes the following named seamounts: There is an unnamed seamount between Stradbroke Seamount and Derwent Hunter Guyot and 7 unnamed seamounts in the Coral Sea near Mellish Reef that have been assigned to the chain. Some of the later have age ranges between 37.0 to 50.5 Ma. Also assigned to the chain are two sampled areas of the southern Louisiade Plateau with ages of 56.40 ± 0.60 and 55.00 ± 0.40 Ma respectively that are believed to represent the most northern aspects of the chain.

Geology
The volcanics are saturated tholeiitic to transitional alkali-olivine basalt.