{"id":206493,"date":"2024-11-15T14:20:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T00:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=206493"},"modified":"2024-11-15T14:29:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T00:29:30","slug":"seamount-named-in-honor-jasper-konter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/11\/15\/seamount-named-in-honor-jasper-konter\/","title":{"rendered":"Seamount named in honor of Earth sciences professor Jasper Konter"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Jasper Konter sampling submarine hotspot volcanoes (Photo credit: Valerie Finlayson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A large seamount southeast of Hawaiʻi<\/span> has been named<\/a> Konter Ridge (0N, 135W) in honor of Jasper Konter (1977–2022)<\/a>, who was a professor of Earth sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a> (SOEST<\/abbr>). He is recognized globally for his research on oceanic volcanism and isotope geochemistry.<\/p>\n

This is a beautiful tribute and an especially fitting way to honor Jasper and his love for marine geology.”
— Bridget Smith-Konter<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“This is a beautiful tribute and an especially fitting way to honor Jasper and his love for marine geology,” said Bridget Smith-Konter, SOEST<\/abbr> Earth sciences professor and Konter\u2019s wife. “He loved sea-going research and nearly all of his research studies were focused on investigating the origins of seamounts, their geochemical fingerprints, and how these relate to tectonic plate motions and mantle plumes.”<\/p>\n

Konter\u2019s research was focused on understanding how long-lived, plume-fed Pacific hotspots generate age-progressive volcanic chains, such as the Hawaiian Islands and Samoan Islands, over 100-million-year timescales. His unique scientific contributions include using evidence from isotope geochemistry and mantle seismology to confirm the deep origin of mantle plumes, and to show that materials that were once subducted in the ancient geologic past are returned again to the surface by these rising mantle plumes.<\/p>\n

Through his research on the different stages of intraplate volcanism, Konter advanced scientific understanding of the evolving source materials and magma production mechanisms as volcanoes age.<\/p>\n

Surveying Konter Ridge<\/h2>\n
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Jasper Konter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Konter Ridge is an 89 km<\/abbr> long chain of seamounts on the ocean floor, straddling a zone across the equatorial Pacific about 35 km<\/abbr> wide. At its tallest point, it stands 3 km<\/abbr> above the surrounding seafloor, lying almost 1.5 km<\/abbr> below the ocean surface.<\/p>\n

Konter Ridge has been surveyed only three times by multibeam sonar expeditions. The most recent was in January 2024 aboard the 糖心视频<\/abbr> vessel R\/V Kilo Moana<\/em>, where David Sandwell, Jake Perez and Captain David Martin first proposed this name to honor their friend and colleague. Two days before what would have been Konter\u2019s 47th birthday, the trio reached out to Smith-Konter and SOEST<\/abbr> Dean Chip Fletcher, while at sea, to share their proposal.<\/p>\n

“I was touched by their idea and intention to honor Jasper,” added Smith-Konter. “And I was captivated by its triangulated location amongst three of Jasper\u2019s favorite places to study seamount evolution (each about 3,500 km to Konter Ridge): Hawaiʻi<\/span>, Jasper Seamount located near the Baja Peninsula [no relation to Konter] and Savaiʻi<\/span> (Samoa). This effort, by our friends, to seek the official name of Konter Ridge for a massive, largely unexplored volcanic feature on the ocean floor, also carries a lot of sentimental value. It symbolizes friendship, collegiality, and the unique spirit of scientific curiosity and exploration.”<\/p>\n

Read more on SOEST<\/abbr> News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Location of Konter Ridge shown in the red rectangle. Hawaiian Islands are visible in upper left of map.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Konter Ridge is an 89 km<\/abbr> long chain of seamounts on the ocean floor, straddling a zone across the equatorial Pacific about 35 km<\/abbr> wide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1187,1467,92,9],"class_list":["post-206493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-earth-science","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t