Over 19,000 Mountains Found Under the Ocean
"We identified 19,325 new seamounts, expanding a previously published catalog..."
The thousands of mountains found on the ocean floor are called seamounts, and scientists recently announced they’ve identified nearly 20,000 new ones. “Scientists estimate there are at least 100,000 seamounts higher than 1,000 metres around the world,” says Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “These provide hard foundations for deep-sea life to settle on and grow.”
A new paper from Advancing Earth and Space Sciences called Global Distribution and Morphology of Small Seamounts says, “We identified 19,325 new seamounts, expanding a previously published catalog having 24,643 seamounts.” Less than half of the ocean floor has been mapped to date.
There are several benefits to identifying where seamounts exist, from submarine navigation to understanding marine biology. In fall 2021, a U.S. nuclear powered submarine collided with a seamount, causing several injuries – read about it here.
The highest mountain on earth is a seamount. Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano that is nearly 10,000 metres tall. Watch a short documentary about seamounts below.
Seamounts
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