It is part of the Magellan Seamounts and is a volcanic seamount covered with sediments. Ferromanganese crusts occur in some places. Basalts in the form of pillow lavas altered to clay and zeoliths have been recovered from Lemkein. Like other Magellan Seamounts, it formed south of the equator and was moved to its present-day position by plate tectonics.
↑Hyeong, Kiseong; Kim, Jonguk; Yoo, Chan Min; Moon, Jai-Woon; Seo, Inah (December 2013). "Cenozoic history of phosphogenesis recorded in the ferromanganese crusts of central and western Pacific seamounts: Implications for deepwater circulation and phosphorus budgets". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 392: 294. Bibcode:2013PPP...392..293H. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.09.012. ISSN0031-0182.