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  • Presentation | SY11B: Impactful Science: Methods and Metrics I Poster
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  • SY11B-0540: Defining the Continental Margin of Hot-Spot Island Chains: A Replicable Geologic Workflow for Continental Shelf Extension in Compliance with Article 76, U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea
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  • Board 0540‚ Hall EFG (Poster Hall)
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Author(s):
Felipe Aron, University of Chile (First Author, Presenting Author)
Carla Hervías, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Alejandro Silva, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Giovanni Menanno, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Nicolás Pérez-Estay, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Alejandro Sanhueza, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Marcela Bilbao, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Gaspar González, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Leonardo Toledo, National Department of State Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile
Gonzalo Yanez, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Luis Lara, Austral University of Chile


Coastal States can claim resources on the seabed beyond 200 nautical miles if they show that the seafloor is a natural extension of their land. For islands atop long chains of under-water volcanoes, proving that link is tricky because the ridge does not look like a familiar continental shelf. Our study offers a clear, low-cost way to draw that boundary.


First, we used freely available depth maps to trace the high backbone of the volcanic ridge and the gentle slopes that fade into the deep ocean floor. Second, we looked beneath the surface with seismic images and gravity data to outline the thick root of rock that holds the ridge up. Where the surface and subsurface outlines overlap, we mark the edge of the island’s hidden continent.


Testing the method on Chile’s Easter Island and nearby Salas y Gómez Island, we found a continuous under-water mountain range more than 700 kilometers long and up to 90 kilometers wide, built by a plume of hot rock rising from deep inside the Earth. The approach gives Chile—and dozens of other island nations—a strong, transparent scientific case for securing their offshore seabed rights.




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