A hot spot is fed by a region deep within Earth’s mantle from which heat rises through the process of convection. This heat facilitates the melting of rock at the base of the lithosphere, where the brittle, upper portion of the mantle meets Earth’s crust. The melted rock, known as magma, often pushes through cracks in the crust to form volcanoes.
Hot spot volcanism is unique because it does not occur at the boundaries of Earth’s tectonic plates, where all other volcanism occurs. Instead it occurs at abnormally hot centers known as mantle plumes. Scientific models depict these plumes of molten rock almost like a lava lamp, with a rising bulbous head fed by a long, narrow tail that originates in the mantle. As the plume head reaches the lithosphere, it spreads into a mushroom shape that reaches roughly 500 to 1000 kilometers (310 to 621 miles) in diameter. These features are called diapirs.
Scientists have different theories about where hot spots form. The dominant theory, framed by Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson in 1963, states that hot spot volcanoes are created by exceptionally hot areas fixed deep below Earth’s mantle. More recent scientific studies suggest that these hot spots may be found at more shallow depths in Earth’s mantle and may migrate slowly over geologic time rather than stay fixed in the same spot. (...)
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