WEBVTT 1 00:00:10.650 --> 00:00:12.780 Liz Hoadley: I'm Liz with NOAA Ocean Exploration. 2 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.840 Today, we're taking a closer look at the volcanoes that 3 00:00:15.845 --> 00:00:17.430 lie hidden beneath our ocean. 4 00:00:18.930 --> 00:00:23.210 Known as seamounts these features provide critical habitat for marine organisms. 5 00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:29.130 And act as a geologic record that can help us understand the forces that 6 00:00:29.130 --> 00:00:31.259 have shaped our world, quite literally. 7 00:00:39.790 --> 00:00:43.950 Thomas Morrow, a marine geologist and geophysicist with our office 8 00:00:43.950 --> 00:00:45.480 is here to tell us a little more. 9 00:00:46.335 --> 00:00:47.025 Thomas Morrow: Thanks Liz. 10 00:00:47.175 --> 00:00:47.715 That's right. 11 00:00:48.045 --> 00:00:49.595 There's a lot we can learn from seamounts. 12 00:00:50.235 --> 00:00:53.295 Scientists estimate that there are tens of thousands of these features 13 00:00:53.325 --> 00:00:56.535 across the world, in every ocean basin, but only a small percentage 14 00:00:56.535 --> 00:00:57.445 of them have been explored. 15 00:00:58.055 --> 00:01:02.294 In the simplest of terms, a seamount is an underwater volcano. 16 00:01:03.044 --> 00:01:06.495 If you picture a volcano, you can imagine lava erupting out of the 17 00:01:06.495 --> 00:01:08.295 top and spilling over the sides. 18 00:01:09.015 --> 00:01:13.395 As that lava cools it hardens into solid rock and a volcano grows. 19 00:01:19.024 --> 00:01:21.414 Seamounts are created through volcanic processes. 20 00:01:21.585 --> 00:01:26.100 So they're usually found near the edges of tectonic plates or near volcanic hotspots. 21 00:01:28.289 --> 00:01:30.960 Whatever their origin, seamounts follow the same general life 22 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:32.490 cycle over millions of years. 23 00:01:33.179 --> 00:01:36.179 Their shapes can vary depending on volcanic activity and erosion. 24 00:01:37.050 --> 00:01:40.890 Islands also face wave, wind and rain erosion, and will eventually 25 00:01:40.895 --> 00:01:44.820 erode back down below the oceans surface, sometimes forming guyots 26 00:01:45.360 --> 00:01:46.979 type of seamount with a flat top. 27 00:01:49.455 --> 00:01:52.514 Geologically seamounts are fascinating because they tell us the story of 28 00:01:52.514 --> 00:01:54.315 our planet over millions of years. 29 00:01:54.764 --> 00:01:58.214 They can record the movements of tectonic plates and their lava and 30 00:01:58.214 --> 00:02:01.425 rock compositions can tell us about the deep, hidden parts of our planet. 31 00:02:02.414 --> 00:02:05.714 Biologically, they can also have a huge impact on life in the ocean. 32 00:02:06.585 --> 00:02:08.354 Liz Hoadley: Thomas, thank you so much. 33 00:02:08.354 --> 00:02:10.725 That really is fascinating. 34 00:02:10.755 --> 00:02:11.355 Thomas Morrow: Thanks Liz. 35 00:02:11.725 --> 00:02:12.625 Liz Hoadley: On that note. 36 00:02:12.625 --> 00:02:15.805 We're lucky enough to have another scientist here to tell us more about 37 00:02:15.805 --> 00:02:17.905 what sea mounts mean for ocean biology. 38 00:02:18.725 --> 00:02:21.715 Meagan Putts is a deep-sea research associate at the University 39 00:02:21.715 --> 00:02:24.985 of Hawaiʻi studying deep sea coral and sponge communities. 40 00:02:25.285 --> 00:02:28.765 And she has explored many seamounts using remotely operated vehicles. 41 00:02:28.770 --> 00:02:29.855 Welcome Meagan. 42 00:02:30.095 --> 00:02:32.275 Meagan Putts: Hi, it's really great to be here today. 43 00:02:32.335 --> 00:02:34.095 I'm excited to talk about seamounts. 44 00:02:34.225 --> 00:02:36.905 Liz Hoadley: So Meagan, seamounts are frequently chosen as dive 45 00:02:36.925 --> 00:02:38.635 sites for deep-sea exploration. 46 00:02:38.695 --> 00:02:40.855 Can you tell us a little bit about why that is? 47 00:02:41.275 --> 00:02:46.785 Meagan Putts: Absolutely seamounts are these areas of really amazing diversity 48 00:02:46.790 --> 00:02:49.915 and density of organisms in the deep-sea. 49 00:02:50.295 --> 00:02:54.615 So seamounts provide habitat for a number of different types of animals 50 00:02:54.620 --> 00:03:01.045 like corals, sponges, fishes, crabs, shrimps, you name it you might be 51 00:03:01.045 --> 00:03:04.075 able to see it down on a seamount. 52 00:03:04.075 --> 00:03:07.600 Liz Hoadley: So why is it that seamounts are such hotspots for biodiversity? 53 00:03:08.079 --> 00:03:09.370 Meagan Putts: That's a really great question. 54 00:03:09.460 --> 00:03:15.010 There are two main reasons why seamounts are these great hot spots of biodiversity 55 00:03:15.880 --> 00:03:18.010 and that substrate and current. 56 00:03:20.350 --> 00:03:25.480 Across most of the ocean is abyssal plane and so it's sort of like a desert where 57 00:03:25.480 --> 00:03:28.150 it's covered in these very fine mud. 58 00:03:29.805 --> 00:03:34.215 So substrate on the seamounts is hard because they are 59 00:03:34.215 --> 00:03:35.325 mountains made out of rock. 60 00:03:37.260 --> 00:03:40.589 Animals like sponges and corals, which are sessile meaning that 61 00:03:40.589 --> 00:03:44.190 they can't move around during their lifetime need to attach to something. 62 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:49.400 And that something is going to be rocks on the side of these seamounts. 63 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:53.399 And that makes these really great, beautiful communities possible. 64 00:03:54.310 --> 00:03:58.859 However, ocean currents actually act to connect seamounts that 65 00:03:58.859 --> 00:04:00.420 are far away to each other. 66 00:04:01.355 --> 00:04:05.225 And that's because these animals that are living on seamounts that 67 00:04:05.225 --> 00:04:10.204 are sessile during their adult years, actually reproduce by producing larva. 68 00:04:10.535 --> 00:04:15.815 The larva can actually move from seamount to seamount by using the ocean currents. 69 00:04:16.175 --> 00:04:19.204 Which is really, really exciting to scientists like myself. 70 00:04:20.250 --> 00:04:21.989 And that's what we call connectivity. 71 00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:26.070 This, you know, relationship between these biological communities 72 00:04:26.070 --> 00:04:28.200 that are vastly far apart. 73 00:04:33.809 --> 00:04:37.020 Liz Hoadley: So earlier on Thomas mentioned that there are tens of thousands 74 00:04:37.020 --> 00:04:38.460 of seamounts throughout the ocean. 75 00:04:39.119 --> 00:04:42.816 I'm wondering just how similar or different are they from one another? 76 00:04:42.820 --> 00:04:47.490 Meagan Putts: So seamounts can tend to be very similar or extremely different 77 00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:51.240 from one another, depending on where they are, what the ocean currents are 78 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:53.849 like, how those sea mounts are connected. 79 00:04:56.490 --> 00:05:00.599 What I've noticed throughout the many dives that I've participated in is 80 00:05:00.599 --> 00:05:05.130 that we see very similar communities at similar depths on seamounts in the 81 00:05:05.130 --> 00:05:07.950 Pacific ocean and the Atlantic ocean. 82 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:09.900 Now these are not the same species. 83 00:05:10.815 --> 00:05:15.435 But there are similar families that are observed and also similar types 84 00:05:15.435 --> 00:05:17.265 of communities that we're observing. 85 00:05:17.325 --> 00:05:23.475 So we do see some similarity, but they're also in detail, very, very different. 86 00:05:24.645 --> 00:05:25.095 Liz Hoadley: Wow. 87 00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:27.945 So you've really spent some time observing parts of the world 88 00:05:27.945 --> 00:05:29.625 that most of us never get to see. 89 00:05:29.625 --> 00:05:33.435 And others only get a glimpse of what are some other questions that 90 00:05:33.435 --> 00:05:35.235 are, are current areas of research? 91 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:41.289 Meagan Putts: Well, there are thousands and thousands of seamounts 92 00:05:41.310 --> 00:05:43.600 that have never been explored at all. 93 00:05:45.090 --> 00:05:49.700 There are infinite questions still waiting to be answered about seamounts. 94 00:05:50.070 --> 00:05:55.034 So the ones that I'm most interested are about the connectivity 95 00:05:55.034 --> 00:05:56.614 that we see between seamounts. 96 00:05:56.955 --> 00:06:03.344 How are those communities on one seamount similar or different from communities 97 00:06:03.765 --> 00:06:08.445 in the same seamount chain or from seamounts that are, you know, on the 98 00:06:08.445 --> 00:06:10.604 other side of the world from each other. 99 00:06:11.115 --> 00:06:15.715 Every time we dive, we are finding new species and collecting new species. 100 00:06:15.715 --> 00:06:19.045 So there are a number of taxonomists that are actively working on 101 00:06:19.045 --> 00:06:25.075 describing new animals and adding that information to our vast databases on 102 00:06:25.080 --> 00:06:27.265 what we know about life in the ocean. 103 00:06:27.265 --> 00:06:32.655 So if you can think it, you can definitely ask it of seamounts. 104 00:06:35.185 --> 00:06:37.795 Liz Hoadley: So Meagan, it's been so nice to have you here today. 105 00:06:37.855 --> 00:06:41.965 I'm wondering if you have any parting remarks before you head out? 106 00:06:43.145 --> 00:06:45.570 Meagan Putts: The deep-sea had always been sort of this place 107 00:06:45.570 --> 00:06:47.460 that's out of sight out of mind. 108 00:06:47.850 --> 00:06:51.840 Uh, but it really is no longer that because it is in sight. 109 00:06:51.870 --> 00:06:56.040 We have vehicles that are live streaming from the sea floor. 110 00:06:56.370 --> 00:06:59.390 You can see this deep sea floor for yourself nowadays. 111 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:01.480 So it's, it is there. 112 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:03.640 We can see it, we can explore it. 113 00:07:03.640 --> 00:07:07.270 We can all participate no matter where we are in the world. 114 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:12.280 And that's really the beauty of what we do here is making 115 00:07:12.280 --> 00:07:14.410 these distant places accessible. 116 00:07:18.530 --> 00:07:20.200 Liz Hoadley: This is fascinating. 117 00:07:20.260 --> 00:07:23.470 Uh, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today and telling 118 00:07:23.470 --> 00:07:27.385 us a little bit about seamounts and sharing your research with us. 119 00:07:27.925 --> 00:07:28.755 Meagan Putts: Absolutely. 120 00:07:28.855 --> 00:07:31.375 Sharing my research is one of my favorite things to do. 121 00:07:31.465 --> 00:07:32.455 Thanks for having me. 122 00:07:34.195 --> 00:07:36.745 Liz Hoadley: Everything we know about seamounts comes from only a small 123 00:07:36.745 --> 00:07:38.905 fraction of the total number in the ocean. 124 00:07:39.355 --> 00:07:55.085 This makes each one an exciting new frontier for future ocean exploration.