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Grades 9-12

Student Investigation: Seamounts and Biological Productivity

Grade Level:

9th – 12th grade (Earth Science/Biogeography)

Lesson Description:

Seamounts represent some of Earth’s tallest peaks, unexplored territories, and critical habitats supporting important fisheries across the globe. Students will investigate the phenomenon of upwelling and currents to determine why many seamounts sustain diverse ecological communities and support surprising levels of biological productivity in nearby waters. Students analyze data and various models to evaluate how well they represent patterns of ocean currents around seamounts and determine the effects these current flows have on productivity.

Lesson Components:

Standards:

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): 

  • Performance Expectation: HS-ESS2-7
  • Disciplinary Core Ideas: HS-ESS2-E: Biogeology

Ocean Literacy Essential Principles: 

  • Principle 5: FC f

Supporting Images/Videos:

Deep, Cold Current Without Seamount demonstration

Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration. Download HD version (mp4, 11.0 MB)

Deep, Cold Current With Seamount demonstration

Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration. Download HD version (mp4, 11.2 MB)

Current Flow Demo Set-Up.

Current Flow Demo Set-Up

Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration. Download largest version (jpg, 287 KB).

A cross-section of Fieberling Guyot, illustrating relative depth and position of the center, rim, flank, and base installations of current meters used to collect the data in the Fieberling Guyot Data table. Also pictured is an illustration of the general set-up of a current meter with two meters deployed in one location.

Fieberling Guyot with Current Meter Illustration

Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration. Download largest version (jpg, 146 KB).

Supplemental Materials:

Fact Sheets

Exploration Notes – stories from the field

Related Topics:

Explore additional educational resources on topics related to this lesson.

For Educators
Seamounts