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USGS CMG InfoBank: Sea Floor Volcanoes

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Comment: 07:58 - 08:33 (00:35)

Source: Annenberg/CPB Resources - Earth Revealed - 4. The Sea Floor

Keywords: volcano, "abyssal plain", seamount, "mid-oceanic ridge"

Our transcription: Farther out along the abyssal plain, the sea floor bedrock becomes shallower, and the sedimentary cover becomes thinner exposing lava hills, which are actually the tops of volcanoes.

Thousands of these volcanoes are scattered across the deep ocean floor.

The larger ones are called "Seamounts."

In fact, underneath the veneer of sedimentary deposits the entire surface of the sea floor is volcanic in origin although few signs of any recent eruptions are visible, except at mid-ocean ridges.

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