According to a report from the National Science Foundation, scientists have created an amazing new map of the seafloor using two sources of satellite data.

The result of the project is the discovery of thousands of uncharted seamounts, as well as new information about the development of the continents.

Scientists contend that the map offers them novel ways of exploring ocean spreading centers and mysterious ocean basins located in the most remote areas of our planet.

The map also revealed that seamounts and earthquakes are frequently linked. In fact, most seamounts were once active volcanoes, meaning that many are located near tectonically active plate boundaries, mid-ocean ridges and subducting zones.

“The team has developed and proved a powerful new tool for high-resolution exploration of regional seafloor structure and geophysical processes,” explains Don Rice, program director in the NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences. “This capability will allow us to revisit unsolved questions and to pinpoint where to focus future exploratory work.”

According to scientists, the map was made using data from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite, as well as NASA’s Jason-1 satellite.

The map revealed new evidence for seafloor spreading ridges in the Gulf of Mexico. The ridges were active 150 million years ago and are now hidden by extremely thick layers of sediment.

“One of the most important uses will be to improve the estimates of seafloor depth in the 80 percent of the oceans that remain uncharted or is buried beneath thick sediment,” the authors posit.

The map is described in greater detail in the journal Science.