Seamounts and Guyots

In this topic, you investigated seamounts, which are independent mountains that rise up, often thousands of feet. These are some of the highest elevated features of the ocean floor.

Seamounts are usually created by volcanic activity or by convergent plates. Some seamounts rise above the surface of the ocean and become islands. Eventually, all islands and seamounts stop growing and begin to erode. As the seamount peak wears away, it flattens and becomes a seamount of a special type — a guyot.

Now that you have explored the tallest structures of the ocean floor, it is time to look at the deepest places on Earth — deep ocean trenches.

Additional Resources

If you would like more information about seamounts, watch Lesson 15 - Seamounts at NOAA's website.