Monts carbonatés

Carbonate mounds are very steep-sided mounds of variety of shapes, which may be up to 350 m high and 2 km wide at their base (Weering et al, 2003). They occur offshore in water depths of 500 m-1100 m with examples present in the Porcupine Seabight and Rockall Trough (Kenyon et al, 2003). Carbonate mounds may have a sediment veneer, typically composed of carbonate sands, muds and silts. The cold-water reef-building corals Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata, as well as echiuran worms are characteristic fauna of carbonate mounds. Where cold-water corals (such as Lophelia) are present on the mound summit, coral debris may form a significant component of the overlying substratum.