Guyot

Depth: 1,400 m · Midnight Zone

A guyot is an underwater mountain with a flat top, almost like a tabletop mountain. Long ago it was a volcanic island above the waves. The sea wore its peak down flat, and then it slowly sank beneath the surface.

For scientists

A guyot was once a volcanic island: waves ground its summit flat, then the cooling, ever-heavier plate carried it slowly into the deep (thermal subsidence). The farther a plate has drifted from the ridge, the older and deeper it lies. Coral reefs often grew on the flat tops, whose remains are now found thousands of meters down.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

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