5.6: Hot Spots

What Are Hot Spots?

In addition to GPS technology, geologists can also track plate motion using the location of hot spots Links to an external site., volcanically active areas on the Earth’s surface that are caused by anomalously hot mantle rocks underneath (Figure 5.11). This heat is the result of a mantle plume Links to an external site. that rises from deep in the mantle toward the surface resulting in the production of magma and volcanoes. These mantle plumes occur within the asthenosphere or deeper, such that they are unaffected by the movement of the continental or oceanic plates. Mantle plumes appear to be stationary through time; therefore, as the tectonic plate moves over the hot spot, a linear chain of volcanoes is produced. This gives geologists a wonderful view of the movement of a plate through time with the distribution of volcanoes indicating the direction of motion and their ages revealing the rate at which the plate was moving. Interested in hot spots? Want to learn more? Read this article from Earth Magazine: The Question of Mantle Plumes Links to an external site..