Away from the flat top upon which the pinnacles rest, the slopes fall off steeply into the Rockall Trough and a moat in the sediment that surrounds the seamount.

[7] It lies in the Rockall Trough, an over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) deep submarine depression of unclear origin.

[10] A 100 metres (330 ft) thick layer of sediment covers the flat top[13] and appears to be reworked by storms and sea currents.

[16] Beyond the margin of the flat top, the slopes of Anton Dohrn Seamount drop down to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) depth.

[1] At Anton Dohrn Seamount it appears to be unusually shallow, perhaps due to the Iceland plume's buoyancy.

[21] Anton Dohrn Seamount is probably formed mostly by basaltic lava[10] and tuffs[12] which define a transitional to alkaline suite.

[9] Pulses of volcanic activity of similar age have been identified at other volcanoes in the region and may reflect fluctuations of the Iceland plume.

[34] The seamount was once proposed to be the source of Turonian tephra deposits in Western Europe before its Maastrichtian age was established.

[35] During the Cretaceous the seamount was about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) higher than present,[19] perhaps even reaching 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) height above sea level;[16] presumably it was then eroded during the Paleocene when a wave of erosion took place in western Britain and stripped much of the volcanic centres of northwest Scotland.

[19] An episode of crustal subsidence in the Cretaceous-Oligocene also played a role in lowering Anton Dohrn Seamount.

[40] Finally, the bivalve Xylophaga anselli has been found at Anton Dohrn Seamount and the Hebrides slope.

[45] They mostly occur on the sides of the seamount, on mounds on the flat top[46] and its margin,[8] perhaps for hydrodynamic reasons or because substrates favourable for the development of the reefs are found there.

[49] Dropframe camera surveys[43] have seen anemones, anthozoans, ascidians, the asteroid (starfish) Henricia sp., bamboo corals, caryophyllids, cerianthids, antipatharian corals with various shapes, the corals Desmophyllum dianthus, Lophelia pertusa and Solenosmilia variabilis, echinoderms including brisingids and crinoids, glass sponges, gorgonians, holothurians, the ophiuroids Ophiactis balli and Ophiomusium lymani, the pencil urchin Cidaris cidaris, pycnogonids, the scleractinian Madrepora oculata, the seapen Pennatula phosphorea, sea urchins, sea whips, serpulids, soft corals such as Gersemia sp.

Decapods, fish including Lepidion eques, the eel Synaphobranchus kaupi and squat lobsters Munida sp.