Hawaii hotspot

A volcanic hotspot beneath the Pacific Plate that produced the Hawaiian Islands and Emperor Seamounts as the plate moved northwestward.

Mantle plume: A buoyant upwelling of hot solid rock within a planet’s mantle. A rising mantle plume is the leading explanation for the hotspot’s persistent magma supply.
Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain: A submarine volcanic chain extending from the Hawaiian Islands northwestward and then northward across the Pacific. It preserves the hotspot’s volcanic track across much of the Pacific Plate.
Hawaiian Islands: An archipelago in the central Pacific formed by volcanic activity and subsequent erosion and subsidence. The islands are the emerged, relatively young part of the hotspot’s volcanic trail.
Hotspot track: A line of volcanic features formed as a tectonic plate moves over a comparatively stationary volcanic source. The Hawaiian chain is a classic track, but its geometry depends on both source and plate motion.
Hawaiian–Emperor Seamount Chain age progression: The pattern in which volcanoes along the Hawaiian–Emperor chain generally become older away from Hawaii Island. This progression supplies evidence for a moving plate passing over a localized magma source.
Intraplate volcanism: Volcanic activity occurring within a tectonic plate rather than at its boundaries. Hawaiian volcanoes form far from plate boundaries, the defining setting of this volcanism.
Hawaiian Ridge: The northwest-trending submarine volcanic ridge connecting the Hawaiian Islands to older seamounts. This ridge is the younger, curved segment of the hotspot’s volcanic trail.
Hawaii Island: The largest and southeasternmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago, with several active volcanoes. It is the youngest major island above the hotspot and hosts ongoing eruptions.
Pacific Plate motion: The movement of the Pacific tectonic plate reconstructed from geological and geophysical evidence. The seamount trail constrains its past direction and speed, though hotspot motion complicates reconstruction.
Radiometric dating: Methods that determine the ages of rocks by measuring radioactive decay and its products. Dating seamount lavas established the chain’s age progression and the bend’s timing.

Linked from 15 pages