NEW MOUNTAINSSeamount in Pacific Ocean

University of New Hampshire Scientists Discover

larrymayerunh.com

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego usedsatellite measurements and gravity modeling to make the most detailed maps

ever produced of the ocean floor.

Three-dimensional view of the southwest side of the seamount with 23-degree slopes.(University of New Hampshire)

the red dots show locations of earthquakes with magnitude greater than 5.5,"highlight[ing] the present-day location of spreading ridges and transform faults"

Vertical gravity gradient (VGG) model of the Southwest Indian Ridge. This is the slowestspreading ridge on the Earth and has large fracture zone signatures that record the rifting

and spreading between Africa and Antarctica.

The high-resolution multibeam sonar bathymetry data show that the newly chartedseamount is not very prominent and rises just over 600 m from its base. However, it is wide

enough to be detected in the gravity signal.