Chinese scientists unravel mystery behind formation of more than 40,000 undersea peaks

Researchers at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have explained the origin behind tens of thousands of undersea seamounts. This was reported by Science and Technology Daily, a TV BRICS partner.

Using high-precision numerical models, they have confirmed that the formation of these seamounts is almost entirely attributable to the activity of mantle plumes – high-temperature flows of mantle material rising from the Earth's depths.

According to the traditional hotspot hypothesis, high-temperature mantle plumes rising from the Earth's depths cause the rock beneath moving tectonic plates to melt, thereby forming a continuous chain of undersea volcanoes. However, this hypothesis fails to explain the origin of these more than 40,000 scattered undersea peaks.

Using the Tianhe supercomputer, scientists have reconstructed the dynamic processes within the Earth's interior over the past 270 million years. The model shows that the numerous isolated seamounts do not originate from a few dozen point-like "heat sources", but rather from vast "warm nurseries" formed by the diffusion of hot material beneath young tectonic plates.

Residual heat within the asthenosphere continuously powers the formation of new seamounts. During further evolution, mantle plumes can also split off secondary plumes from their deep roots, forming secondary mantle chambers and new mountain ranges.

"This implies that both the majestic seamount chains and the seemingly haphazardly distributed isolated seamounts actually share the same deep-seated dynamic 'engine'," said Liu Lijun, corresponding author of the paper and a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He added that this discovery significantly expands the classical theory of mantle plumes.