Events & Courses

Zoom virtual conference - 18.55 for 19.00 hrs start

One of the mysteries of the sea is the large number of seamounts that rise up on the seabed and, in a few cases, break surface to form oceanic islands. Volcanic in origin, seamounts are widely scattered throughout the world’s ocean basins, especially in the Pacific. Recent estimates suggest that there may be as many as 200,000 seamounts with heights that range from 0.1 to 6.7 km above the surrounding seafloor. Seamounts are generally circular in shape, have pointed, star-shaped, curved, or flat tops, and are often capped by a coral reef. They are of geological interest because they record the motions of Earth’s tectonic plates, the strength of its outermost ‘rocky’ layer, and the magmatic ‘pulse’ of its deep interior. They are also significant as ocean ‘stirring rods’, biodiversity ‘hotspots’, and hazards for megathrust earthquakes, submarine landslides, and navigation. Statistical studies suggest that there are as many as 24,000 seamounts higher than 1 km still to be discovered. The charting of these seamounts and the determination of their morphology, structure, and evolution is one of the many challenges facing marine geologists in the future.

Speaker: Anthony Watts

Anthony Watts is Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford. He received his BSc in Geology and Physics from University College, London and his PhD in Marine Geophysics from the University of Durham. After graduating, he joined the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Canada and then the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, New York, USA. He has participated in some 26 oceanographic expeditions to each of the world’s ocean basins and has been involved in all aspects of the acquisition, reduction, and interpretation of marine geological and geophysical data. His current research is focused on the structure and evolution of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain in the North Pacific Ocean. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the European Geophysical Union, the Explorers Club of New York and The Royal Society.