This question is on the behalf of a sixth grade class in Marysville, CA
that is study tectonic plates.
They would like to know how were the volcanoes of Hawai'i created
since they are not located directly on overlapping plates?
Curtis R. Sylvester-Jose'
Dear students,
You are very perceptive. You are correct that most, 95%, of the world's
volcanoes are along the edges of plates. Hawaii is far from the edge of
the Pacific plate. There are places in the Earth where rocks in the
mantle are flowing upwards, much like a column of smoke rising above a
chimney. These mantle plumes supply magma to features called a hot
spots. A hot spot is a place where there is volcanoes where there should
not be, like far from plate boundaries. Hawaii is a classic example of
hot spot volcanoes. To learn more about hot spots and Hawaii visit
Volcano Lessons
.
Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota
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