Ad
related to: hot spots plate boundaries
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The latter form over subduction zones, at converging plate boundaries. When one oceanic plate meets another, the denser plate is forced downward into a deep ocean trench. This plate, as it is subducted, releases water into the base of the over-riding plate, and this water mixes with the rock, thus changing its composition causing some rock to ...
Tectonic plates generally focus deformation and volcanism at plate boundaries.However, the Hawaii hotspot is more than 3,200 kilometers (1,988 mi) from the nearest plate boundary; [1] while studying it in 1963, Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson proposed the hotspot theory to explain these zones of volcanism so far from regular conditions, [3] a theory that has since come into wide acceptance.
In 1963, Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson proposed the "hotspot" theory to explain why although most earthquake and volcanic activity occurs at plate boundaries, some occurs far from plate boundaries. The theory claimed that small, long-lasting, exceptionally "hot" areas of magma are located under certain points on Earth.
There is an ongoing discussion about whether the hotspot is caused by a deep mantle plume or originates at a much shallower depth. [3] Recently, seismic tomography studies have found seismic wave speed anomalies under Iceland, consistent with a hot conduit 100 km (62 mi) across that extends to the lower mantle.
Tokelau, based on plate reconstructions and isotope data. [38] [39] Gilbert Islands, [40] although such a track would require a bend in the path of the hotspot. A bend exists in the Hawaii-Emperor seamount chain [41] but whether one exists at Macdonald is unclear. [42] [43] It is predicted to occur close to where the Samoa hotspot is today. [44]
The plate formed because the triple junction had converted to an unstable form surrounded on all sides by transform faults, due to the development of a kink in one of the plate boundaries. The "Pacific Triangle", the oldest part of the Pacific plate, created during the initial stages of plate formation, is located just east of the Mariana ...
The Yellowstone hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the United States responsible for large scale volcanism in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming, formed as the North American tectonic plate moved over it. It formed the eastern Snake River Plain through a succession of caldera-forming eruptions.
Tectonic plates move over hotspots creating a chain of volcanically-formed mountains over time. This is supported by the theory of plate tectonics. The peaks and mountains left behind are no longer active volcanoes. Hotspots do not necessarily occur on a plate boundary, though the Cobb Hotspot does. [7]