Kodiak Seamount Not Flat-Topped

Earlier surveys in the Aleutian Trench southeast of Kodiak Island, Alaska, indicated that Kodiak Seamount had a flat top and was a tablemount or guyot. This seamount is of special significance because it has been supposed that its surface was eroded at the same time as those of a line of guyots to the southeast. If so, its present position in the axis of the Aleutian Trench indicates that the line of guyots was formed before the trench. A two-part survey in 1965 showed that Kodiak Seamount is not flat-topped, and should be eliminated from the category of guyots. Reflection profiling records indicate that the seamount was formed before the adjacent sediments were deposited, and that the small trough, or moat, on the south side is a depositional feature probably formed by a scouring effect or by the acceleration of turbidity currents around the base of the mount.