Seamounts

     An undersea collision that injured 11 crew members of the USS Connecticut, a fast attack nuclear-powered submarine, last month was the result of it running into an uncharted seamount. 

     The boat hit what at the time was an unidentified object in international waters in the South China Sea on October 2nd, resulting in moderate to minor injuries. At the time, the Navy did not specify how much damage the vessel suffered, but sub was able to make its way to a port in Guam by traveling on the surface. 

     An investigation found that the Connecticut grounded on an uncharted seamount. The fleet's commander was investigating to determine if human error might have somehow played a role in the accident. Given the Navy's accident rate involving collisions due to poor seamanship in recent years that explanation is quite possible. 

     In 2005 the submarine USS San Francisco hit an uncharted seamount near Guam with the result that numerous sailors were injured and one died. 

     According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers believe more than 100,000 seamounts rise more than 3,300 feet from the seafloor. It is estimated that there are over 30,000 seamounts in the Pacific Ocean alone. The only known seamounts in Canada are found in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia. 

     Seamounts are undersea mountains formed by volcanic activity and at one time they were thought to be little more than hazards to submarines, but today, scientists recognize they biological hotspots that support an amazing array of marine life. That's because their steep slopes cause currents that carry nutrients upwards from the depths of the oceans toward the sunlit surface, providing food for creatures ranging for corals, fish and crustaceans. 

     New estimates suggest that seamounts encompass about 11.1 square miles of the Earth's surface...more than deserts, tundra, or any other single land-based habitat. 

     These underwater mountains, generally extinct volcanoes, rise hundreds or thousands of feet from the seafloor and sometimes even break the ocean's surface. The highest mountain on Earth is Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is actually a seamount. It is a dormant volcano that is more than 30,000 feet tall measured from its base on the seafloor 18,000 feet beneath the surface.

     Scientists estimate there are at least 100,000 seamounts higher than 3,000 around the world. In addition to providing food for sea life, there seamounts create obstacles that shape ocean currents. Although often hidden beneath the ocean, they are also being targeted by mining companies that hope to mine the minerals that often collect around seamounts. Read MORE