A team of oceanographers has discovered the remains of a dormant volcano in the shape of a strange mountain rising off the coast of Northern California, shaped like a nut cake with steep sides.

The discovery comes in the framework of the work of mapping the oceans and providing comprehensive data for marine conservation. A multi-agency survey is conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA

According to A statement Speaking to Live Science, scientists made the discovery using the world’s largest unmanned ocean-mapping vehicle.Celtron Server(Saildrone Surveyor).

A strange volcano

This strange mountain is located 322 kilometers from the coast of Northern California, and it is about 975.36 meters high, and it is completely submerged in the sea, with a crater still visible at a depth of 365.76 meters below sea level. Scientists say the seafloor resembles a smooth circular tower with semi-vertical sides rather than a rocky mountain.

With 63 seamounts identified off the California coast, Aurora Elmore, program manager for the Cooperative for Ocean Exploration at NOAA, said the discovered mountain is outside the area where seamounts are typically found near shore. “Expanding the range” of seamounts.

Seamounts are the remnants of dormant volcanoes that formed millions of years ago on the ocean floor, and their height from sea floor to summit is at least 1005.84 meters, so they penetrate the surface of the water and sea islands like Hawaii. are formed.

“Seafloors represent important habitats for marine life because they provide rocky, hard surfaces for organisms to cling to, and the depths of the ocean are difficult to reach,” says John Copley, professor of deep-sea ecology and oceanography at the University of Britain. Southampton.

These seabeds are “often covered with loose, muddy deposits, and are too steep for the mud to stick, and few animals thrive on their sides, where coral and seaweed gardens grow in the depths.”

Nameless mountain

According to John Copley’s report, the underwater mountain discovered in California has not yet been officially recognized, which will be determined later by the Ocean Subcommittee’s Public Bathymetry Chart on Names of Submerged Landmarks, which is still under construction. It is 975 meters above sea level without a name.

That is, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration standards, it is a few meters short of what is required to be considered a seabed. Earth and remnants of an extinct volcano.