Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary

The Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary is one of 13 National Marine Sanctuaries in the United States, protect and preserve the oceanic ecosystems in the United States. Cordell Bank is a seamount about 80 km northwest of San Francisco, where the ocean floor rises up to a water depth of 37 m. The seamount was discovered in 1853 by the U.S. Coast Survey and was named after Edward Cordell, the completely surveyed the area in 1869, named. It has been extensively studied and described by Robert Schmieder, who published a monograph about 1991 from 1978 to 1986. It is designated as a protected area since 1989. The reserve covers a sea area of 1,347 km ². The Seamont is largely composed of granite and was in front of 93 million years, part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Pacific plate veered to the northwest and moved it to the seamount to its present location. The continental drift moves the seamount about 9 inches per year. During the most recent glacial expansion that 15,000 to 20,000 years ago Cordell Bank was perhaps an island when the sea level was 110 meters lower. This atypical mountain is surrounded on three sides by water, which permits the flow of nutrient-rich deep water over relatively shallow water with enough light for photosynthesis. The Central Coast of California with the area around the Cordell Bank is one of the largest buoyancy regions in the Pacific. The result is that Cordell Bank is an unusually biologically productive area that is large and diverse populations of marine species ( including seabirds and marine mammals ) responsible. The water in the reserve supports Seabirds of the Farallon Islands and the nearby Point Reyes, as well as migratory birds from Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. Several species of albatross are known in the Cordell Bank frequently visited, most of the Schwarzfußalbatros. Twenty-six different species of marine mammals (eg, humpback whales, blue whales and Steller sea lions ) live in the reserve. The late summer is the best time to see migrating whales that use the abundant food supply of the bank. Leatherback turtles also live in the waters of the reserve. The regulations prohibit the promotion of the reserve of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, the removal of benthic organisms (eg by deep-sea drilling ), the discharge of waste and the destruction of this natural monument. Recreational diving is not recommended in the reserve account of the depth and the currents. Future: A bill (HR 5352 ) was recently proposed to Congress by Representative Lynn Woolsey of where it came to the enlargement of the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary to 2833 km ².

38.066591666667 - 123.36778888889Koordinaten: 38 ° 4 '0 "N, 123 ° 22' 4 " W