GUYOTS AND SEAMOUNTS
Seamounts and Guyots are volcanoes that have built up
from the ocean floor, sometimes to sea level or above. Guyots are seamounts
that have built above sea level. Erosion by waves destroyed the top of
the seamount resulting in a flattened shape. Due to the movement of the
ocean floor away from oceanic ridges, the sea floor gradually sinks and
the flattened guyots are submerged to become undersea flat-topped peaks.
We know that the tops of guyots were once at the surface because they contain
evidence of fossils such as coral reefs that only live in shallow water.
Seamounts conversely represent volcanoes that did not reach sea level so
their tops remain intact and are shaped like volcanoes on land.
A volcano erupts above sea level somewhere in the ocean |
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