Seamount Gallery
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The pages linked below show a variety of seamounts representative of each ocean basin. Most seamounts are formed by seafloor volcanism. The major ocean basins contain different types and distributions of seamounts because the tectonic and magmatic settings of each basin are different. Larger seamounts and seamount chains are generally associated with hotspots or melting anomalies. Seamounts also form near the spreading centers where plates diverge and new seafloor is created but these seamounts tend to be considerably smaller than those associated with hotspots. Hotspots and spreading centers occur in every ocean basin but have markedly different expression related to the rate of plate motion and seafloor formation at the spreading centers.
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