guyot

[ gee-oh ]

noun

1. a flat-topped seamount, found chiefly in the Pacific Ocean.

guyot

/ ˈɡiːˌəʊ /

noun

1. a flat-topped submarine mountain, common in the Pacific Ocean, usually an extinct volcano whose summit did not reach above the sea surface Compare seamount

guyot

/ gē′ō /

1. A flat-topped, extinct submarine volcano having an elevation of over 1,000 m (3,280 ft) above the ocean floor. Guyots are thought to form as volcanos in sea-floor spreading zones and to become extinct as they move away from the spreading zones through plate tectonic forces. Their flat tops are believed to form by the erosional action of waves when they initially project above sea level.

Word History and Origins

Origin of guyot¹

1945–50; named after Arnold H. Guyot (1807–84), Swiss-born American geologist and geographer

Word History and Origins

Origin of guyot¹

C20: named after A. H. Guyot (1807–84), Swiss geographer and geologist

Example Sentences

It was scored everywhere with canyons, trenches, and crevasses and dotted with volcanic seamounts that he called guyots after an earlier Princeton geologist named Arnold Guyot.

From Literature