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Geography

Seamounts can be found in every ocean basin in the world, distributed extremely widely both in space and in age. A seamount is technically defined as an isolated rise in elevation of 1,000 m (3,281 ft) or more from the surrounding seafloor, and with a limited summit area, of conical form. There are more than 14,500 seamounts. In addition to seamounts, there are more than 80,000 small knolls, ridges and hills less than 1,000 m in height in the world's oceans.

Most seamounts are volcanic in origin, and thus tend to be found on oceanic crust near mid-ocean ridges, mantle plumes, and island arcs. Overall, seamount and guyot coverage is greatest as a proportion of seafloor area in the North Pacific Ocean, equal to 4.39% of that ocean region. The Arctic Ocean has only 16 seamounts and no guyots, and the Mediterranean and Black seas together have only 23 seamounts and 2 guyots. The 9,951 seamounts which have been mapped cover an area of 8,088,550 km (3,123,010 sq mi). Seamounts have an average area of 790 km (310 sq mi), with the smallest seamounts found in the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Black Seas; whilst the largest mean seamount size, 890 km (340 sq mi), occurs in the Indian Ocean. The largest seamount has an area of 15,500 km (6,000 sq mi) and it occurs in the North Pacific. Guyots cover a total area of 707,600 km (273,200 sq mi) and have an average area of 2,500 km (970 sq mi), more than twice the average size of seamounts. Nearly 50% of guyot area and 42% of the number of guyots occur in the North Pacific Ocean, covering 342,070 km (132,070 sq mi). The largest three guyots are all in the North Pacific: the Kuko Guyot (estimated 24,600 km (9,500 sq mi)), Suiko Guyot (estimated 20,220 km (7,810 sq mi)) and the Pallada Guyot (estimated 13,680 km (5,280 sq mi)).