Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: Space.com
Context: Researchers aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor research vessel have discovered four massive seamounts off the coast of Peru and Chile. The tallest of these underwater mountains rises over 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) from the seafloor, making it three times taller than the world’s tallest building.
Detected through gravitational anomalies, these extinct volcanoes create subtle changes in the ocean’s surface height.
About Seamounts:
| Category | Information |
| About Seamounts | Seamounts are underwater mountains formed through volcanic activity and are recognized as hotspots for marine life. |
| Formation | Near mid-ocean ridges, intraplate hotspots, or oceanic island chains. |
| Mapping | Echo sounders/multibeam sonar on ships for topographic mapping, or satellite altimetry for gravity-field mapping. |
| Efforts like Seabed 2030 aim to map the world’s seafloor to better understand these ecosystems. | |
| Importance | Provide information about mantle composition and tectonic plate evolution, influence ocean circulation and absorption of heat/CO2, and support diverse biological communities. |
| Seamounts serve as biological hotspots, supporting diverse marine life | |
| Example | The Emperor Seamounts, a chain of seamounts in the Pacific Ocean. |
| India’s contribution | The SARAL satellite, developed in collaboration with France, helped expand the seamount catalogue through improved radar noise reduction. |
| Seamounts Vs Guyots | Seamounts differ from Guyots, which are also formed from undersea volcanoes but were once above the surface of the ocean and have since submerged to form flat-topped undersea mountains. |
