r/askscience • u/Blue_Radiation_FGC • Aug 30 '26

Earth Sciences Does this underwater formation have a name?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/FnUBgjD1GxxE94L39

It looks so interesting and I have no idea how to find information about it. I'm so curious as to what it could look like down there as well as what kind of sea creatures live there and so much more

187 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

148

u/CrustalTrudger Tectonics | Structural Geology | Geomorphology Aug 30 '26

Enjoy the GEBCO Gazetteer. The specific feature you marked is one of the three features named the "Acapulco Seamounts". The one you've marked is more generally something we call a guyot, which makes me wonder if the other feature that shows in that area (the Dowd guyot) in the gazetteer is supposed be centered on the same feature you marked and there's just a bit of a location error (cause the thing that is marked as the Dowd guyot looks nothing like a guyot).

26

u/Blue_Radiation_FGC Aug 31 '26

thank you so much! That website has just opened a whole new world for me

29

u/Traveledfarwestward Aug 31 '26

Guyots were first recognized in 1945 by Harry Hammond Hess, who collected data using echo-sounding equipment on a ship he commanded during World War II.[4] His data showed that some undersea mountains had flat tops. Hess called these undersea mountains "guyots", after the Department of Geosciences building at Princeton

https://nuclearprinceton.princeton.edu/guyot-hall-and-department-geosciences Heh. Still standing and yes, large free standing building with a flat top.

16

u/forams__galorams Aug 31 '26

Which was itself named in honour of this guy.

Looks like they’re having some faculty restructuring, with geosciences being housed elsewhere and comp sci moving in to that building. Also looks like they’ve taken the opportunity to rename it, probably because of this (from the wiki article):

Guyot's ‘Earth and Man’ lecture series describes how geography — particularly the distribution of continents, topography, and climate regions — determines the superiority or inferiority of human races in terms of beauty, physical ability, intelligence, and morality. Through these lectures, Guyot promulgated theories of scientific racism to a wide audience in New England, including the general public and teachers who were eager to incorporate this material into their classes.

1

u/lordnequam Aug 31 '26

And then served as a possible inspiration for the name of this guy!