Benham Rise
The Philippine Rise, formerly known as Benham Rise, is an extinct volcanic ridge located in the Philippine Sea approximately 250 kilometers (160 mi) east of the northern coastline of Dinapigue, Isabela. The rise has been known to the people of Catanduanes as Kalipung-awan as early as the precolonial era of the Philippines, which literally means "loneliness from an isolated place".
| Philippine Rise | |
|---|---|
| Benham Rise, Kalipung-awan (Catanduanon) | |
| Location | Philippine Sea |
| Nearest city | Ilagan, Philippines |
| Coordinates | 16°30′N 124°45′E |
| Area | 13,000,000 ha (50,000 sq mi) |
| Designation | Protected food supply exclusive zone |
| Designated | May 2017 |
| Governing body | Government of the Philippines (recognized by the United Nations since 2012) |
Under the Philippine Sea lie a number of basins including the West Philippine Basin, inside of which is located the Central Basin Fault (CBF). The Philippine Plateau is located in the CBF and its basement probably is a micro-continent. Several scientific surveys have been made on the feature to study its nature and its impact on tectonic subduction, including one about its effects on the 1990 Luzon earthquake. The Philippines claimed this feature as part of its continental shelf in a claim filed with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on April 8, 2009, and which was approved under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 2012.
The rise is designated as a "protected food supply exclusive zone" by the Philippine government since May 2017. Mining and oil exploration are banned in the Philippine Plateau as it is a protected area. On May 16, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 25, renaming the feature to "Philippine Rise".