Hot Spots and Mantle Plumes

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Hot Spots and Mantle Plumes
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Hot Spots

• Hot Spots are places in the world where molten
  material from a source near the mantle-core
  boundary works its way up to the surface of the
  Earth
• The molten material is not derived from the
  subduction of plates
• Think of hot spots at places above gigantic
  bunsen burners inside the earth

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A lot left to explain and discover about Hot
Spots

• Why do they form?
• Why do they continue?
• Why are they located in particular locations?
• How do plate tectonics and hot spots relate?

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• Composition of the magma/lava is a mixture

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Prominent Hotspots

• Hawaii
• Yellowstone
• Galapagos Islands (pacific off South America)
• Iceland
• Azores Atlantic (at junction between NA, Europe
  and African plate)

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Hot spots can show motion of plate

• String of Islands, with oldest island at one end,
  newest at other.
• Plate is passing over hot spot, creating new
  islands over time
• Orientation of chain indicates direction of motion

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• Islands used to indicate direction of plate motion

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Hawaiian Islands
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Lava flow in Hawaii
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Mantle plumes

• Hot Spots are small mantle plumes, material from
  deep mantle/Core that melts and raises to the
  surface of Earth
• It is possible that bigger amounts of molten
  mantle/core have reached the surface of the earth
  in the past
• Catastrophic Results to life