Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Plumes, or plate tectonic processes?

December 1, 2002

Hotspots – large volcanic provinces – such as Iceland, Hawaii and Yellowstone, are almost universally assumed to come from plumes of hot mantle rising from deep within the Earth. At Iceland, perhaps the best-studied hotspot on Earth, this hypothesis is inconsistent with many first-order observations, such as the lack of high temperatures, a volcanic track or a seismic anomaly in the lower mantle. The great melt production there is explained better by enhanced fertility in the mantle where the mid-Atlantic spreading ridge crosses the Caledonian suture zone. The thick crust built by the excessive melt production encourages complex, unstable, leaky microplate tectonics, which provides positive feedback by enhancing volcanism further. Such a model explains Iceland as a natural consequence of relatively shallow processes related to plate tectonics, and accounts for all the first- and second-order geophysical, geological and geochemical observations at Iceland without special pleading or invoking coincidences.

Publication Year 2002
Title Plumes, or plate tectonic processes?
DOI 10.1046/j.1468-4004.2002.43619.x
Authors G. R. Foulger
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Astronomy and Geophysics
Index ID 70243097
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
Was this page helpful?