The Unstartled Steppes of Dream
I am Ashley.
This is my personal blog. If you want just marine biology, go here.
I love the world; I really don't like people.
I balance all this animosity towards the human race with being an almost always kind and gentle being to all creatures.
I'm highly introverted and nature is my primary escape from people.
Creepy-crawly-slimy things are my favorites. Dinosaurs are fantastic.
Future marine biologist; presently an amateur entomologist, ichthyologist, artist, biologist, and writer.
Literature, video game, and music connoisseur.
I'm so full of passion for the world that it hurts.
I think a lot, I laugh a lot, I love a lot.
Almost none of the photos are mine and only some of the drawings are mine.
Listen in.
The open ocean is mainly barren, because cold, nutrient-rich currents are confined to deep water, far beneath the reach of plankton. Seamounts—which stand up to 13,000 ft (4,000 m) above the sea bed—form a major obstruction to these currents, diverting them and pushing them upward. This brings an upwelling of nutrients into the sunlit zone, and allows phytoplankton to flourish. As these nutrient-rich currents rush over the top of the seamount, they split into two and sweep around it. This makes the water above the seamount rotate, encircling a cylindrical column of still water that extends high above the height of the seamount. This “virtual” cylinder is called a Taylor Column. Above a seamount, it forms an area of back-eddies and still water in which nutrients accumulate and plankton get trapped. This creates a zone of incredible richness and productivity above the seamount—an “oasis” in the nutrient desert of the open ocean.
