Seamounts Found On Ocean Floor Near Abyssal Plain

Abyssal plains are considered as the levelest areas on the earth.

Seamounts found on ocean floor near abyssal plain.

Coral reefs at the ocean surface grow away from seamounts over time. An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor usually found at depths between 3 000 metres 9 800 ft and 6 000 metres 20 000 ft lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid ocean ridge abyssal plains cover more than 50 of the earth s surface. The shelf is the region located between deep sea fans and the abyssal plain. Abyssal plains are as irregular as the continental plains with submarine plateaus hills guyots and.

Cold water corals sponges sea anemones and sea fans form crowded communities on the rocky slopes filtering these nutrients out of the water. They are defined by oceanographers as independent. Seamounts are large underwater mountains that are formed by volcanic activities. This is due to the currents of nutrient rich water forced up their sides from the ocean floor.

Seamount large submarine volcanic mountain rising at least 1 000 m 3 300 feet above the surrounding deep sea floor. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. Where is the youngest ocean floor found. Teeming with life unlike the continental slope and abyssal plain deep sea seamounts are densely inhabited.

In the indian ocean seamounts are particularly abundant between réunion and seychelles in the central indian basin and the vening meinesz group near wharton basin. Like the continental shelf slope abyssal plain and trenches ridges are found in every ocean basin. They cover a major portion of the ocean floors between the depths of 3000m to 6000m. They are among the flattest smoothest and least explored regions on earth.

Smaller submarine volcanoes are called sea knolls and flat topped seamounts are called guyots. They rise abruptly from the abyssal plain to heights at least 3 300 feet 1 000 metres above the ocean floor. Abyssal plains are the extremely flat and featureless plains of the deep ocean floor. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. Ridges can be found rising from a depth of about 5 kilometers to a uniform depth of about 2 5 kilometers and can be hundreds of miles wide. Seamounts are extinct submarine volcanoes that are conically shaped and often flat topped.