Global Seafloor Geomorphic Features - Blue Habitats
Conservation International, GRID-Arendal and Geoscience Australia recently collaborated to produce a map of the global distribution of seafloor geomorphic features. The global seafloor geomorphic features map represents an important contribution towards the understanding of the distribution of blue habitats. Certain geomorphic feature are known to be good surrogates for biodiversity. For example, seamounts support a different suite of species to abyssal plains. A detailed description and analysis of the global geomorphic features map can be found in in the scientific paper published in Marine Geology (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2014.01.011). The map and the underlying spatial data can be accessed from http://www.bluehabitats.org/ Seafloor Geomorphic Features Map by Harris, P.T., Macmillan-Lawler, M., Rupp, J. and Baker, E.K. 2014. Geomorphology of the oceans. Marine Geology, 352: 4-24. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The data is available as ESRI shapefiles in a single zipped archive and contains shapefiles for the following geomorphic features: abysses, basins, bridges, canyons, escarpments, fans, glacial troughs, guyots, hadals, plateaus, ridges, rift valleys, rises, seamounts, shelfs, sills, slopes, spreading ridges, terraces, trenches, and troughs.
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme