Perhaps the best known is the hotspot

17 04 2009

In J. This idea was handed down from generation to generation in the legends of Pele, the fiery Goddess of Volcanoes. When she was forced by Namakaokahai to flee again, Pele moved southeast to Maui and finally to Hawaii, where she lives in the Halemaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano. Perhaps the best known is the hotspot presumed to exist under the continental crust in the region of Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming. The magma, which is lighter than the surrounding solid rock, then rises through the mantle and crust to erupt onto the seafloor, forming an active seamount.

Heat from this hotspot produced persistent source of magma by partly melting the overriding Pacific Plate. The mythical flight of Pele from Kauai to Hawaii, which alludes to the eternal struggle between the growth of volcanic islands and seamounts across the Pacific Ocean floor. The possibility that the Hawaiian Islands become younger to the southeast was suspected by the ancient Hawaiians, long before any scientific studies were done. However, these measurable ground movements, which likely reflect hydrothermal pressure changes, do not necessarily signal renewed volcanic activity in the area..

Over time, countless eruptions cause the seamount to grow until it finally emerges above sea level to form an island volcano. Ash deposits from these powerful eruptions have been mapped as far away as Iowa, Missouri, Texas, and even northern Mexico. This idea was handed down from generation to generation in the legends of Pele, the fiery Goddess of Volcanoes. Wilson suggested that continuing plate movement eventually carries the island beyond the hotspot, cutting it off from the magma source, and volcanism ceases.

Tuzo Wilson, the Canadian geophysicist who discovered transform faults, came up with an ingenious idea that became known as the hotspot theory. Specifically, Wilson hypothesized that the distinctive linear shape of the Hawaiian IslandEmperor Seamounts chain resulted from the Pacific Plate moving over deep, stationary hotspot in the mantle, located beneath the presentday position of the Island of Oahu. The mythical flight of Pele from Kauai to Hawaii, which alludes to the eternal struggle between the growth of volcanic islands and seamounts across the Pacific Ocean floor. The possibility that the Hawaiian Islands become younger to the southeast Maui and Hawaii.

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