Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Seamounts

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences

Definition

Seamounts are literally mountains rising from the seafloor. More specifically, they are “any geographically isolated topographic feature on the seafloor taller than 100 m, including ones whose summit regions may temporarily emerge above sea level, but not including features that are located on continental shelves or that are part of other major landmasses” (Staudigel et al., 2010). The term “guyot” can be used for seamounts having a truncated cone shape with a flat summit produced by erosion at sea level (Hess, 1946), development of carbonate reefs (e.g., Flood, 1999), or partial collapse due to caldera formation (e.g., Batiza et al., 1984). Seamounts <1,000 m tall are sometimes referred to as “knolls” (e.g., Hirano et al., 2008). “Petit spots” are a newly discovered subset of sea knolls confined to the bulge of subducting oceanic plates of oceanic plates seaward of deep-sea trenches (Hirano et al., 2006).

Charting, Abundance, and Distribution

Seamounts form one of the most...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Batiza, R., Fornari, D. J., Vanko, D. A., and Lonsdale, P., 1984. Craters, calderas, and hyaloclastites on young Pacific seamounts. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth, 89, 8371–8390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Besse, J., and Courtillot, V., 1991. Revised and synthetic apparent polar wander paths of the African, Eurasian, North-American and Indian plates, and true polar wander since 200 Ma. Journal of Geophysical Research, 96, 4029–4050.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchs, D. M., Arculus, R. J., Baumgartner, P. O., and Ulianov, A., 2011. Oceanic intraplate volcanoes exposed: example from seamounts accreted in Panama. Geology, 39, 335–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clague, D. A., and Dalrymple, G. B., 1987. The Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic chain, Part I, Geologic evolution. In Wright, T. L., Stauffer, P. H., and Decker, R. W. (eds.), Volcanism in Hawaii. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1350. pp. 5–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, M. R., Rowden, A. A., Schlacher, T., Williams, A., Consalvey, M., Stocks, K. I., Rogers, A. D., O’Hara, T. D., White, M., Shank, T. M., and Hall-Spencer, J. M., 2010. The ecology of seamounts: structure, function, and human impacts. Annual Review of Marine Science, 2, 253–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras-Reyes, E., Grevemeyer, I., Watts, A. B., Planert, L., Flueh, E. R., and Peirce, C., 2010. Crustal intrusion beneath the Louisville hotspot track. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 289(3–4), 323–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creer, K. M., Irving, E., and Runcorn, S. K., 1954. The direction of the geomagnetic field in remote epochs in Great Britain. Journal of Geomagnetism and Geoelectricity, 6, 163–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ezer, T., 1994. On the interaction between the Gulf stream and the New England seamount chain. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 24, 191–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, A. T., and Wheat, C. G., 2010. Seamounts as conduits for massive fluid, heat, and solute fluxes on ridge flank. Oceanography, 23(1), 74–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flinders, A. F., Ito, G., Garcia, M. O., Sinton, J. M., Kauahikaua, J., and Taylor, B., 2013. Intrusive dike complexes, cumulate cores, and the extrusive growth of Hawaiian volcanoes. Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 3367–3373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood, P., 1999. Development of northwest Pacific guyots: general results from ocean drilling program legs 143 and 144. Island Arc, 8, 92–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood, P. G., 2001. The “Darwin Point” of Pacific Ocean atolls and guyots: a reappraisal. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 175, 147–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geldmacher, J., Hoernle, K., Klügel, A., van den Bogaard, P., and Bindeman, I., 2008. Geochemistry of a new enriched mantle type locality in the northern hemisphere: implications for the origin of the EM-I source. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 265, 167–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grevemeyer, I., Flueh, E. R., Reichert, C., Bialas, J., Klaeschen, D., and Kopp, C., 2001. Crustal architecture and deep structure of the Ninetyeast Ridge hotspot trail from active-source ocean bottom seismology. Geophysical Journal International, 144, 414–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hein, J. R., Conrad, T. A., and Staudigel, H., 2010. Seamount mineral deposits. Oceanography, 23(1), 184–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, H. H., 1946. Drowned ancient islands of the Pacific Basin. American Journal of Science, 244, 772–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillier, J. K., 2007. Pacific seamount volcanism in space and time. Geophysical Journal International, 168, 877–889.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillier, J. K., and Watts, A. B., 2007. Global distribution of seamounts from ship-track bathymetry data. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L13304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirano, N., Takahashi, E., Yamamoto, J., Abe, N., Ingle, S. P., Kaneoka, I., Hirata, T., Kimura, J. I., Ishii, T., Ogawa, Y., Machida, S., and Suyehiro, K., 2006. Volcanism in response to plate flexure. Science, 313, 1426–1428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirano, N., Koppers, A. A. P., Takahashi, A., Fujiwara, T., and Nakanishi, M., 2008. Seamounts, knolls and petit-spot monogenetic volcanoes on the subducting Pacific Plate. Basin Research, 20, 543–553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoernle, K. A., Bogaard, P. V. D., Werner, R., Lissinna, B., Hauff, F., Alvarado, G., and Garbe-Schönberg, D., 2002. The missing history (16–71 Ma) of the Galápagos hotspot: implications for the tectonic and biological evolution of the Americas. Geology, 30, 795–798.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoernle, K., Abt, D. L., Fischer, K. M., Nichols, H., Hauff, F., Abers, G., van den Bogaard, P., Heydolph, K., Alvarado, G., Protti, J. M., and Strauch, W., 2008. Arc-parallel flow in the mantle wedge beneath Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Nature, 451, 1094–1097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoernle, K., Hauff, F., Werner, R., van den Bogaard, P., Gibbons, A. D., Conrad, S., and Muller, R. D., 2011. Origin of Indian Ocean seamount province by shallow recycling of continental lithosphere. Nature Geoscience, 4(12), 883–887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holbrook, W. S., 1995. Underplating over hotspots. Nature, 373, 559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keleman, P. B., and Holbrook, W. S., 1995. Origin of thick, high-velocity igneous crust along the U.S. East Coast margin. Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, 10077–10094.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopf, A. J., 2002. Significance of mud volcanism. Reviews of Geophysics, 40, 1005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koppers, A. A. P., and Watts, A. B., 2010. Intraplate seamounts as a window into deep earth processes. Oceanography, 23(1), 42–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavelle, J. W., and Mohn, C., 2010. Motion, commotion, and biophysical connections at deep ocean seamounts. Oceanography, 23(1), 90–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masson, D. G., Harbitz, C. B., Wynn, R. B., Pedersen, G., and Løvholt, F., 2006. Submarine landslides: processes, triggers and hazard prediction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 364, 2009–2039.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merrill, R. T., and McElhinny, M. W., 1983. The Earth’s Magnetic Field: Its History, Origin and Planetary Perspective. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, W. J., 1972. Deep mantle convection plumes and plate motions. AAPG Bulletin, 56, 203–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, N., Hoernle, K., Hauff, F., Palin, J. M., Dunlop, W. J., Werner, R., and Faure, K., 2006. New constraints on the age and evolution of the Wishbone Ridge, southwest Pacific Cretaceous microplates, and Zealandia-West Antarctica breakup. Geology, 34(3), 185–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Natland, J.H., and Winterer, E.L., 2005. Fissure control on volcanic action in the Pacific. In: Foulger, G.R., Natland, J.H., Presnall, D.C., and Anderson, D.L. (eds.), Plates, Plumes and Paradigms. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, Special volume 388, pp. 687–710.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niu, Y., Regelous, M., Wendt, I. J., Batiza, R., and O’Hara, M. J., 2002. Geochemistry of near-EPR seamounts: importance of source vs. process and the origin of enriched mantle component. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 199, 327–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, J., Hoernle, K., Butterworth, N., Müller, D., Hauff, F., Sandwell, D., Phipps Morgan, J., Jokat, W., Wijbrans, J., and Stoffers, P., (2015) Deformation-related volcanism in the Pacific Ocean linked to the Hawaiian–Emperor bend. Nature Geoscience, 8, 393–397. DOI: 10.1038/NGEO2416.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portnyagin, M., Savelyev, D., Hoernle, K., Hauff, F., and Garbe-Schönberg, D., 2008. Mid-Cretaceous Hawaiian tholeiites preserved in Kamchatka. Geology, 36(11), 903–906.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Soule, S. A., Chadwick, W. W., Fornari, D. J., Clague, D. A., Embley, R. W., Baker, E. T., Perfit, M. R., Caress, D. W., and Dziak, R. P., 2012. Volcanic eruptions in the deep sea. Oceanography, 25(1), 142–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staudigel, H., and Clague, D. A., 2010. The geological history of deep-sea volcanoes. Oceanography, 23(1), 58–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staudigel, H., and Schmincke, H.-U., 1984. The Pliocene seamount series of La Palma, Canary Islands. Journal of Geophysical Research, 89, 11195–11215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staudigel, H., Koppers, A. A. P., Lavelle, J. W., Pitcher, T. J. P., and Shank, T. M., 2010. Defining the word “seamount”. Oceanography, 23(1), 20–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarduno, J. A., 2007. On the motion of Hawaii and other mantle plumes. Chemical Geology, 241, 234–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarduno, J. A., Duncan, R. A., Scholl, D. W., Cottrell, R. D., Steinberger, B., Thordarson, T., Kerr, B. C., Neal, C. R., Frey, F. A., Torii, M., and Carvallo, C., 2003. The Emperor seamounts: southward motion of the Hawaiian hotspot plume in Earth’s mantle. Science, 301, 1064–1069.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valentine, G. A., and Hirano, N., 2010. Mechanisms of low-flux intraplate volcanic fields–Basin and Range (North America) and northwest Pacific Ocean. Geology, 38, 55–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts, A. B., 1978. An analysis of isostasy in the world’s oceans: 1. Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Journal of Geophysical Research, 83, 5989–6004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts, A. B., 2001. Isostasy and Flexure of the Lithosphere. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 458.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, A. B., and Masson, D. G., 1995. A giant landslide on the north flank of Tenerife, Canary Islands. Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, 24487–24498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts, A. B., ten Brink, U. S., Buhl, P., and Brocher, T. M., 1985. A multichannel seismic study of the lithospheric flexure across the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Nature, 315, 105–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts, A. B., Koppers, A. A. P., and Robinson, R. T., 2010. Seamount subduction and earthquakes. Oceanography, 23(1), 166–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wessel, P., 2001. Global distribution of seamounts inferred from gridded Geosat/ERS-1 altimetry. Journal of Geophysical Research, 106, 19421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wessel, P., Sandwell, D. T., and Kim, S.-S., 2010. The global seamount census. Oceanography, 23(1), 24–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, R. S., and McKenzie, D. P., 1989. The generation of volcanic continental margins and flood basalts. Journal of Geophysical Research, 94, 7685–7729.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, R. S., MCKenzie, D. P., and O’Nions, R. K., 1992. Oceanic crustal thickness from seismic measurements and rare earth element inversions. Journal of Geophysical Research, 97, 19683–19715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, C. J., McNutt, M. K., and Detrick, R. S., 1994. The Marquesas archipelagic apron: seismic stratigraphy and implications for volcano growth, mass wasting, and crustal underplating. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99, 13591–13608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weigel, W., and Grevemeyer, I., 1999. The Great Meteor seamount: seismic structure of a submerged intraplate volcano. In Charvis, P., and Danobeitia, J. J. (eds.), Hotspot and Oceanic Crust Interaction. Journal of geodynamics, Vol. 28, pp. 27–40.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

We thank Anthony Watts for his constructive and insightful review.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, CF10 3AT, Cardiff, UK

    David M. Buchs

  2. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Kaj Hoernle & Ingo Grevemeyer

Authors
  1. David M. Buchs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kaj Hoernle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ingo Grevemeyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David M. Buchs .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

    Jan Harff

  2. Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Martin Meschede

  3. Leibiniz Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Sven Petersen

  4. Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and Lit c/o Helmholtz-Center for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany

    Jörn Thiede

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Buchs, D.M., Hoernle, K., Grevemeyer, I. (2015). Seamounts. In: Harff, J., Meschede, M., Petersen, S., Thiede, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_34-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_34-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6644-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Seamounts
    Published:
    06 June 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_34-2

  2. Original

    Seamounts
    Published:
    13 May 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_34-1

Search

Navigation