The active volcanism is limited to a localized region (or "spot") of the volcanic chain. Hot-spot island chains include the Hawaiian The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaiʻi in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly the group was known to Europeans an…Hawaiian Islands
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.
- Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain (Hawaii hotspot)
- Louisville Ridge (Louisville hotspot)
- Walvis Ridge (Gough and Tristan hotspot)
- Kodiak–Bowie Seamount chain (Bowie hotspot)
- Cobb–Eickelberg Seamount chain (Cobb hotspot)
- New England Seamounts (New England hotspot)
How dangerous are hot spot volcanoes?
When volcanoes erupt they can spew hot, dangerous gases, ash, lava and rock that can cause disastrous loss of life and property, especially in heavily populated areas. Volcanic activities and wildfires affected 6.2 million people and caused nearly 2400 deaths between 1998-2017.
How does a hot spot create a volcano?
A volcanic "hotspot" is an area in the mantle from which heat rises as a thermal plume from deep in the Earth. High heat and lower pressure at the base of the lithosphere (tectonic plate) facilitates melting of the rock. This melt, called magma, rises through cracks and erupts to form volcanoes.
Where is a hot spot located in a volcano?
In geology, a hotspot is an area of the Earth’s mantle from which hot plumes rise upward, forming volcanoes on the overlying crust. Samoa is composed of a linear chain of volcanic islands situated atop the Pacific tectonic plate. Samoa is an example of one of at least 28 plume-fed volcanic hotspots are suggested to exist on the Earth’s surface.
What is an example of a hot spot volcano?
What is an example of a hotspot volcano? Major hot spots include the Iceland hot spot, under the island of Iceland in the North Atlantic; the Réunion hot spot, under the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean; and the Afar hot spot, located under northeastern Ethiopia. Volcanic activity at hot spots can create submarine mountains known as seamounts.
Where are hot spots located?
Hot spots can also develop beneath continent s. The Yellowstone hot spot, for example, has produced a series of volcanic features that extend in a northeastern direction. The features stretch from the U.S. states of Idaho and Oregon, some 650 kilometers (400 miles) to northwest Wyoming. Over 16.5 million years, the hot spot has generate d 15 to 20 massive eruptions that left large volcanic depressions called caldera s. The McDermitt Volcanic Field, located on the Nevada-Oregon border, is the hot spot’s oldest large feature. It formed from an eruption roughly 16.1 million years ago. The active Yellowstone Caldera, in Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, is the hot spot’s youngest large feature, having last erupted just 640,000 years ago.
What is the name of the volcano that erupts in Yellowstone National Park?
These eruptions are called geyser s. A famous geyser is Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. When it erupts, the water is 95.6 degrees Celsius (204 degrees Fahrenheit) and can reach more than 55 meters (180 feet) high. Kilauea, above, is one of five volcanoes on the "Big Island" of Hawaii—three of them active.
What is the name of the rock that pushes through the crust to form volcanoes?
The melted rock , known as magma, often pushes through cracks in the crust to form volcano es. Hot spot volcanism is unique because it does not occur at the boundaries of Earth’s tectonic plate s, where all other volcanism occurs. Instead it occurs at abnormal ly hot centers known as mantle plume s. Scientific models depict these plumes ...
How does a hot spot form?
A hot spot is fed by a region deep within the Earth’s mantle from which heat rises through the process of convection. This heat facilitate s the melting of rock at the base of the lithosphere, where the brittle, upper portion of the mantle meets the Earth’s crust. The melted rock, known as magma, often pushes through cracks in the crust to form volcano es.
How big are seamounts?
Some scientists estimate that seamounts make up 28.8 million square kilometers (17.9 million square miles) of the Earth’s surface, an area larger than any other habitat. Depending on the amount of volcanic activity, seamounts can rise hundreds or thousands of meters from the seafloor.
What are the hot spots in the North Atlantic?
Major hot spots include the Iceland hot spot, under the island of Iceland in the North Atlantic; the Réunion hot spot, under the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean; and the Afar hot spot, located under northeastern Ethiopia. Volcanic activity at hot spots can create submarine mountains known as seamount s.
Where is the youngest hot spot in the world?
The active Yellowstone Caldera, in Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, is the hot spot’s youngest large feature, having last erupted just 640,000 years ago. Hot spots don't always create volcanoes that spew rivers of lava. Sometimes, the magma heats up groundwater under the Earth’s surface, which causes water ...