An experimental study has been carried out to evaluate the effect of submerged arc welding parameters on the formation of a bay area in the heat affected zone of bead on plate welds in ASTM A36 steel. It was observed that the formation of weld beads having a bay area is influenced by the heat distribution from the arc, which in turn is determined by the welding conditions. The effect of the welding parameters on the weld bead formation is discussed in terms of the arc operation modes and the resulting heat distributions.