The guyot is currently settled by numerous types of animals and is part of an area leased for mining purposes.

[15] A post-erosional cone lies on the summit platform of Vlinder Guyot[1] and rises about 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) above it.

[2] A group of five volcanic cones,[5] with widths of 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) and heights of 750 metres (2,460 ft), surmounts the guyot.

[17] The cones, which are possibly of Miocene age, reach a depth of 551 metres (1,808 ft),[15] making Vlinder Guyot the shallowest among the Magellan Seamounts.

[21] Coinciding with the corners of the trapezoid are northeastern, south-southeastern, southwestern and north-northwestern protrusions that appear to be rift zones[1] and have lengths of 15–50 kilometres (9.3–31.1 mi).

[15] This centre appears to be older and apparently never rose above sea level, it is now located about 1,750 metres (5,740 ft) deeper.

[22] Remotely operated vehicle observations have found that the slopes of Vlinder Guyot are covered by sand and rocks.

The sand is probably derived from pelagic sediments and also from the summit platform, while the rocks appear to be of both sedimentary and volcanic origin and are often covered by manganese crusts.

[27] Other materials encountered include pelagic chalks, ferromanganese crusts up to 12.2 centimetres (4.8 in) thick, hyaloclastite,[28] limestone of foraminiferal[29] and reefal origin, mud, phosphorite,[28] turbidites,[30] volcaniclastic rocks[28] lithified clays, gravelstones, sandstone, siltstone and tuffites.

[25] Presumably, tholeiites form the base of the seamount and alkaline-subalkaline rocks its summit, while basanites occur in the secondary cones.