Ocean Basin
Volcanic Cones
Largely unseen by human eyes, the ocean basins are alive with volcanic activity. Magma flows upward from the mantle to the ocean bottom not only through rifts, but also through numerous volcanoes and other openings in the ocean floor. Seamounts are submarine volcanoes and can either be active or extinct. Guyots are extinct volcanoes that were once above sea level, but have since subsided below the surface. As they subsided, wave or current action eroded the top of the volcano to a flat surface.
Seamounts and guyots typically rise about 0.6 mile (1 km) above the ocean floor. One of the largest known seamounts is Great Meteor Seamount. It extends to a height of more than 1,300 ft (4,000 m) above the ocean floor in the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean.
See also Continental shelf; Hydrothermal vents; Oceanography.
Resources
Books
Davies, P. A. The Mechanisms of Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics. New York: Academic Press, 1997.
Fischer, G., and G. Wefer. Use of Proxies in Paleoceanography. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 1999.
Golden, Fred, Stephen Hart, Gina Maranto, and Bryce Walker. How Things Work: Oceans. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991.
Monahan, Dave. Atlas of the Oceans: More than 200 Maps and Charts of the Ocean Floor. Westport, CT: Firefly Books, 2001.
Periodicals
Karner, M.B., E.F. DeLong, and D.M. Karl. "Archaeal Dominance in the Mesopelagic Zone of the Pacific Ocean." Nature 409 (2001): 507-510.
Sager, W., and Koppers, A. "Late Cretaceous Polar Wander of the Pacific Plate: Evidence of a Rapid True Polar Wander." Science vol. 287 (January, 2000): 455-459.
Zgkmen, Tamay M. "The Shaping of Continental Slopes by Internal Tides." Science 31, no. 12 (2001): 3569-3580.
David E. Newton
Additional topics
Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) to Ockham's razorOcean Basin - Oceanic Ridges, Trenches, Fracture Zones, Abyssal Plains And Hills, Volcanic Cones