Scientists have found about 20,000 ancient volcanoes at the bottom of the ocean.

Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the United States, published a study that discovered nearly 20,000 ancient volcanoes on the ocean floor. The team used satellite data to find the geological structures of magma in the ocean, also known as seamounts.

The article, published in the scientific journal Earth and Space Science, explains that seamounts are formed by volcanic activity in the ocean – they can be between three and ten kilometers in height. Normally, these ocean structures are detected by sonar, but only if a ship is passing.

As far as scientists are concerned, they used data from the CryoSat-2 satellite, the European Space Agency and SARAL to detect 19,325 volcanoes on the ocean floor – SARAL is a collaboration of Indian and French space agencies.

More than 40,000 volcanoes under the ocean

They describe the scientists in the study as “Seamounts are important features to study, map, and classify because of their impact on the ocean and ecosystems.”

Using sonar, it is possible to find seamounts thanks to sound waves bouncing off the seafloor. The satellite uses altimetry to measure small changes in the sea surface, originally caused by the bottom of the oceans.

Adding 19,325 to the 24,643 already mapped in different parts of planet Earth, The scientists brought the total number to 43,454 cataloged oceanic volcanoes. New discoveries have revealed a few small structures, such as a volcano that is only 421 meters high – most of which were around 700 meters high, but some measured up to 2500 meters above the seafloor.

An ever-increasing number

It was estimated that there should be around 55,000 seamounts in 2021, but new discoveries should spur a revision of that number. Either way, the researchers say there could be thousands of volcanoes at the bottom of the ocean just waiting to be discovered.

In addition to helping find details about the number of volcanoes in the ocean, scientists believe the discoveries could also help better understand the relationship of tectonic plates to volcanoes.

“Our work has certainly helped advance the global catalog of seamounts, but improvements in data resolution may help us find more,” says terrestrial scientist and research leader Julie Gevorgian. News week.