Viaud Ridge

Viaud Ridge is an undersea mountain range in the Indian Ocean located south of India, southwest of Sri Lanka and east of the Maldives. Its morphology remains poorly defined: estimates range from between 15 and 25 kilometers long, peaking at about 1,700 meters above the ocean floor. Discovered in 1970, it was only named in 1993 in honor of the brother of the French writer Pierre Loti, Gustave Viaud, a naval surgeon and the first photographer of Tahiti who died and was immersed in the area in 1865.

Viaud Ridge
Viaud Ridge Indian Ocean Laccadive Sea
Highest point
Elevation	-2,300m
Coordinates	2°N 76°E
Dimensions
Length	15–25 km (9.3–15.5 mi)
Naming
Etymology	Gustave Viaud
Geography
Location	Indian Ocean Laccadive Sea

Geography

Viaud Ridge is an underwater mountain range in the Indian Ocean^[1] located in the Laccadive Sea.^[2] The neighbouring land masses are Sri Lanka,^[1][3] with the capital Colombo 650 kilometers to the north-north-east,^[1][4][5] the southern tip of India to the north and the Maldives to the west, at the latitude of Addu Atoll.^[6]

Viaud Ridge rises above the oceanic depression of the Central Indian Basin, an abyssal plain of the Indian Ocean inscribed between the Indian subcontinent to the north and northwest, the Central Indian Ridge to the west, the Southeast Indian Ridge to the south, and the Ninety East Ridge to the east.^[6] It is 15 to 25 kilometers long and has a maximum prominence of about 1,700 meters.^[4] The seabed is 4,000 to 5,000 meters deep in this area of the Central Indian Basin, so the highest point of Viaud Ridge is between 3,300 and 2,300 meters below sea level.^[7]

Discovered in 1970^[1][8] by various ships passing through this sector of the Indian Ocean,^[9][8] the submarine chain was still poorly defined in 2008, leading it to be listed at a General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans summit held that year in Jeju, South Korea, as one of 183 underwater features requiring more precise geographic coordinates.^[10] According to GEBCO and VLIZ Marine Gazetteer, it is located between 1°18′N 75°45′E and 2°27′N 77°24′E longitude,^[2][8] but French researcher Alain Quella-Villégier also gives its maximum latitude as 1°42′N.^[1]

Toponymy

Viaud Ridge was named after a suggestion made in approximately April or May 1993^[1][3] by Robert Fisher,^[1] a professor at the University of California San Diego campus^[1] and part of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.^[5][8] His proposal, validated in May 1993 by the GEBCO sub-committee on toponyms of underwater features, honours the Frenchman Gustave Viaud, elder brother of the writer Pierre Loti, whom he interacted with on some occasions.^[8] Viaud was a naval surgeon,^[1][3] explorer^[1] and the first photographer of Tahiti.^[1][3] He died and was immersed in the area.^[1][5][8] Exhausted by fatigue and cholera, which he had contracted in Côn Đảo Prison,^[5] he died at sea on 10 March 1865^[1][3] while his ship, the Alphée^[3] was in the Bay of Bengal;^[1] the next day, his body was released into the sea,^[1][3] at 6°11′N 84°48′E.^[1]

See also

• Seamount

References

1. Quella-Villégier, Alain; Dodille, Norbert (2009). Géographie subjective française de l'océan Indien à l'époque coloniale (1850–1950) [French subjective geography of the Indian Ocean in the colonial era (1850–1950)]. Idées et représentations coloniales dans l'océan Indien (in French). Paris: Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne. pp. 125–138. ISBN 978-2-84050-607-2.
2. Paula, Oset Garcia (2016-04-23). "Viaud Ridge". Marine Gazetteer. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
3. Quella-Villégier, Alain (2006). "Gustave Viaud : premier photographe" [Gustave Viaud, first photographer] (PDF). L'Actualité Poitou-Charentes (in French). July–September (73): 66–69. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
4. Quella-Villégier, Alain (1 January 1998). Pierre Loti: Le pèlerin de la planète [Pierre Loti: The pilgrim of the planet] (in French). Anglet: Aubéron. p. 524. ISBN 978-2-908650-77-8.
5. la Prairie, Yves (2001). Le Vrai Visage de Pierre Loti [The True Face of Pierre Loti] (in French). Louviers: Ancre de marine. p. 111. ISBN 978-2-84141-172-6.
6. Atlas du monde : Cartes [World Atlas : Maps] (in French). Gütersloh/Munich: Wissen Media Verlag. 2007. pp. 306–307, 485. ISBN 978-2-7098-1890-2.
7. Atlas universel [Universal Atlas] (in French). Paris, Bruxelles, Zurich, Montréal: Reader's Digest and Le Monde. 1 January 1982. pp. 27, 130. ISBN 978-2709800051.
8. "Viaud Ridge – GEBCO 2019 Undersea Feature Names Gazetteer". General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans. 2009.
9. "GEBCO Gazeteer September 2009". GEBCO. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
10. Weatherall, Pauline; Cramer, Ray (19–22 May 2008). "Report to the GEBCO Sub-committee on Undersea Feature Names on the work carried out at the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) with the GEBCO Gazetteer of Undersea Feature Names" (PDF). International Hydrographic Organization. Joseph Proudman Building, 6 Brownlow Street, Liverpool, L3 5DA, UK. p. 21. Retrieved 31 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)