The resulting 3D maps reveal mountain ranges, with some peaks more than 1.5km-high, trenches 1400m deep and what is believed to be a submarine volcano, bigger than Mt St Helens.
The maps cover an area either side of a range known as Broken Ridge, 1770km off the west coast of Perth.
It once formed the margin between two geological plates that separated between 20 and 100 million years ago.
"The terrain of the area around Broken Ridge makes the European Alps look like foothills," said Dr Simon Boxall, a lecturer in ocean and earth science at the University of Southampton. If you stood in the valley you would have, towering above you, mountains that were about 3km high - just coming straight up in front of you."
The maps were produced by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).
Watch:MH370: Malaysians pay tribute to passengers of missing jet
The aircraft vanished without trace on March 8 this year with 239 people on board. It was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur when it disappeared. No trace of the plane has been found.
The search was narrowed in April after "pings" from the plane's satellite communication system placed it somewhere along a 4000km curve in the Southern Indian Ocean known as the "seventh arc".
Experts believe this area, which is around 60,570 sq km - roughly the size of Croatia - is where the aircraft's fuel ran out.
The next stage of the search involves going underwater. But before this could begin, the ATSB has had to produce these maps. It is working with Geoscience Australia on the bathymetric survey, which involves obtaining measurements of the depth of the ocean. The work is expected to take 12 months and so far, 41,300sq km of the search area have been analysed and mapped.
They are vital for when deep-sea search vehicles examine the seabed. The equipment is pulled along just above the sea floor by a 9.5km long armoured cable.
Read more:
*MH370 authors hit back at airline
*Malaysia Airlines flight forced to turn around
*MH370 could've taken 1000 possible flight paths
"What you are doing is flying a piece of equipment very close to the sea floor and if you don't know what is there in the first place, you end up driving into a mountain," said Boxall.
The underwater search is expected to start next month. While the families of the passengers on board MH370 hope the searches will provide answers, Boxall said the chances of finding MH370 were still "very slim".
"Sadly, they will have to decide where to draw the line. It will be a question of tripping over it luckily. They could still go over it and miss it, it could have sunk deep into the sediment."
