Abstract
The paucity of multi-narrow-beam bathymetric data in the ocean basins has meant that previous studies of seamount distribution and size have relied on wide-beam echo sounder data and small1–8 amounts of Seabeam multi-narrow-beam data. Since 1967, however, the US Naval Oceanographic Office has been collecting multi-narrow-beam bathymetric data9–14. Here we use an extensive collection of such data to locate over 800 seamounts in the North Atlantic. We find that ridge crest-generated seamounts are formed only between Iceland and the Hayes fracture zone, where there are contributions of plume material to the mid-ocean ridge plumbing system. It appears that in the slow-spreading North Atlantic an injection of plume material into the ridge plumbing system is necessary for the formation of seamounts at the ridge crest.
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Epp, D., Smoot, N. Distribution of seamounts in the North Atlantic. Nature 337, 254–257 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/337254a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/337254a0
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