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A massive underwater mountain, also known as a seamount, has been discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Guatemala.
Like most seamounts, the seamount is likely the remnant of an extinct volcano, according to NOAA Ocean Survey, a federal program that is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. At 1,600 meters (5,249 feet), it is nearly twice as tall as Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, according to a news release from the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit organization that advances oceanographic research.
The discovery of the massive structure, which covers an area of 14 square kilometers (5.4 square miles) and sits 2,400 meters (7,874 feet) below sea level, occurred in July during an SOI expedition that was part of the institute’s efforts to further explore the ocean. Using a research vessel known as Falkor (sic). The ship is designed to map the seafloor using a multibeam resonator that sends sound waves to the ocean floor in a fan-shaped pattern and then measures the time it takes for the sound to reach the ocean floor and return.
Tomer Ketter, a hydrographer and marine technician at the Schmidt Ocean Institute, was also on board, an institute spokesman said, and Ketter confirmed that the seamount was not found in any database that measures ocean depths, including the General Bathymetric Table of the Oceans.
The managing director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, Dr. “A seamount over 1.5 kilometers long, so far hidden beneath the waves, shows how much we have yet to explore,” Jyotika Virmani said in the news release. “A complete seafloor map is a fundamental element of understanding our Ocean, so it is exciting to live in an age where technology allows us to map and see these magnificent parts of our planet for the first time.”
The seamount was discovered 84 nautical miles outside of Guatemala’s Exclusive Economic Zone. There are estimated to be more than 100,000 seamounts taller than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) in the world, but less than one-tenth of a percent have been discovered, according to NOAA.
“Seamounts were discovered relatively recently due to the advent of human-operated submarines and highly capable remotely operated vehicles (ROVs),” Les Watling, professor emeritus of biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said via email. Watling was not involved in the discovery but was part of a Schmidt Ocean Institute study in 2019.
Finding a mountain of stitches
Watling stated that most of the ocean floor is unexplored and said, “It’s a bit surprising that it’s not included in the graph.” (NOAA estimates that less than 25% of the ocean floor has been mapped by 2023.)
Oceanographers know where most seamounts are located in the world (even those that are unmapped and unexplored) thanks to satellite radar altimeters, which are used to detect small differences in sea height by measuring the time it takes for a radar pulse to be received. It was sent from a satellite to reach the ocean surface and return, Watling said. Above the location of the seamount, the ocean surface will swell slightly, allowing large mountains underwater to be detected.
About 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from where the seamount was mapped, satellite altimetry showed a modeled seamount, which likely showed a recently mapped seamount, since the model’s exact location may be obscured by other landmasses, Ketter said. in the field. He said the seamount had not been mapped or known before, its location only estimated from satellite data.
Recently discovered seamounts may be taller than the world’s tallest building, but some have been found to be 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) or more tall, Watling said. Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, the world’s tallest mountain that measures more than 10,210 meters (33,500 feet) from base to peak, began as a seamount, according to NOAA.
Seamounts act as biodiversity hotspots
Because of the geological formation of seamounts, mountains tend to serve as biodiversity hotspots, providing a hard surface for corals, sponges, and other marine invertebrates to attach to.
“Seamounts create different ecosystems because normally slow currents above the deep sea floor accelerate up to 10 times as they flow around these barriers,” said Tony Koslow, research oceanographer emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. , in an email.
Koslow, author of “The Quiet Deep: Exploration, Ecology and Conservation of the Deep,” said accelerating currents create the hard rock substrate to which invertebrates attach themselves and also engulf other fauna that feed on food particles dragged by the currents. Sea.” He did not take part in the expedition.
According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, researchers estimate that 15 percent to 35 percent of endemic ocean species live in seamount ecosystems, and migratory species also seek out structures to breed, feed or shelter.
“The incredible diversity of life on seamounts has only been recognized relatively recently,” Koslow said. “Perhaps the most important aspect of this discovery is that it confirms that mapping of the seafloor is still inadequate.”
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