Meaning & use
guyot
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Meaning
nouncountablespecialist
An undersea mountain with a flat top, formed when a volcanic island wore down and then sank beneath the sea.
Grammar: Has a plural: guyots. Used in geology and oceanography.
Patterns
- a guyot in the Pacific
- the top of a guyot
Scientists mapped a guyot more than a kilometer below the surface.
The guyot once stood above the waves as a volcanic island.
Coral often grows on the flat summit of a guyot.
Word forms
| plural | guyots |
|---|
Common combinations
- flat-topped guyot
- Sonar revealed a flat-topped guyot rising from the sea floor.
- submerged guyot
- A submerged guyot can still hold rich marine life.
- Pacific guyots
- Pacific guyots are often found in long chains.
- summit of a guyot
- Divers cannot reach the summit of a guyot without special equipment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- seamount
- Seamount covers any underwater mountain, whereas guyot is only used when the top has been flattened by erosion.
- tablemount
- Tablemount is another name for the same landform, but guyot is much more common in textbooks.
Word family
- guyots noun
- the plural form
- seamount noun
- the wider class of undersea mountains
Commonly confused: guyot or seamount?
guyot vs seamount
Every guyot is a seamount, but a seamount with a pointed or rounded peak is not a guyot.
Practice
What feature distinguishes a guyot from other undersea mountains?
Choose one answer.
A guyot has a flat summit worn down by waves before the mountain sank. Guyots are extinct and lie deep, and coral is not what defines them.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “guyot”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.