View article

Morphological evidence from bathymetric surveying shows that the seafloor is subject to the same active tectonic and geological processes as the subaerial domain eg faulting, mass transport/debris flows, magmatic construction. Observing such processes in the submarine environment is difficult due to the inability to map at high-resolution using satellite methods. The open-access databases of swath bathymetry data-Marine Geoscience Data System (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), SIOExplorer (Scripps Institute of Oceanography), GeoMapApp-are a valuable resource which has the potential to identify the presence, timing, and magnitude of submarine active geological processes through the use of repeat surveys. A dataset of 785 cruises between 1980-2009 was constructed from these sources. The global ocean was divided into~ 35 regions based on potential for abundant ship-track crossings. Differences …