GEL 1: Lecture 5: Plate Tectonics:

Hot Spots & Ancient Continental Configurations

(Ch. 4)
Hot Spots

Not all volcanism occurs along plate boundaries. Some volcanoes occur at stationary
positions, mostly on oceanic islands, but also a few on continents.
About 100 active volcanoes are located far away from plate boundaries, often in the
middle of plates.
- called hot spots, examples include Hawaii, Iceland, Yellowstone, & Afar Triangle
- in contrast to plate margin volcanoes (mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones), hot spot
volcanoes are not a response to plate interaction

Hot spot volcanoes occur above mantle plumes, columns of very hot rock that rise
plastically upward, perhaps from the core-mantle boundary
- these mantle plumes are very long-lived, stationary features and do not change position
relative to the overlying, mobile plates
- the plate above the mantle plume continues to move, so eventually volcanoes shift off
from above the mantle plume and go extinct, with a new volcano developing above the
hot spot

Modern volcanism on the Big Island of Hawaii is related to its position over a hot spot
Hawaiian Island chain part of a much longer archipelago of islands (now volcanically
inactive) and submarine seamounts (submerged volcanic mountains that were once
islands above the sea but that have since subsided beneath the surface, partly due
to wave erosion)
- the Hawaiian archipelago extends as a series of seamounts toward the northwest,
bends at an "elbow" in the chain, then trends northward toward the Bering Sea
west of Alaska - called the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount chain
- the ages of the volcanic rocks comprising each island or seamount progressively
increases with distance from the active volcanism on the Big Island (i.e., the
oldest volcanic rocks are at the farthest inactive tip of the chain and the
youngest volcanic rocks are forming today from Kilauea volcano on the Big Island)
- seamounts form as the volcanic island becomes ‘colder’ and denser away from the
buoyant heat of the hot spot. Also, wave attack and erosion contribute to the
eventual submergence of volcanic islands.

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The chain of volcanic islands and seamounts formed as the Pacific tectonic plate
moved progressively toward the north and northwest over the stationary hot spot.
- as the plate slowly moved, successive volcanoes formed over the hot spot, were
rafted away on the moving plate, and became extinct as they were cut off from
the source of fresh magma
- thus the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount chain form a hot spot trail - a volcanic trace
of Pacific plate motion over the last 70+ m.y.
- the path of hot spot trails marks the absolute direction of plate motion through time
and can be very useful in plate reconstructions

Today, the only active volcanoes are above the hot spot (on the “Big Island” of
Hawaii) - all the other volcanoes in the chain are inactive (like the rest of the
Hawaiian Islands to the northwest and the continuation of submerged seamounts
along the Hawaiian and Emperor seamount chain)
- a new volcano is currently forming today about 1000 m beneath the sea off the Big
Island - already given the name 'Loihi' - it should break the surface about 30,000
years from now

What is the energy source for the movement of plates?

Earth still has lots of internal heat left over from its original creation, plus heat
generated by natural radioactivity in the Earth. The heat is continually being lost
to space - the clearest evidence of this escaping internal heat is volcanism.
This escaping heat is also the driving force for plate tectonic movement (and thus,
indirectly, earthquakes and volcanoes).
The heat transfer system within the planet generates convection currents (similar to
convection cells created in a boiling pot of water or a lava lamp)
- heat release from the core causes solid rock deep in the mantle to be heated to the
point that it becomes less dense than surrounding rock. This hot, solid rock
behaves like a thick plastic and slowly rises as a buoyant mass to the surface.
- some of the heat from this rising plastic rock escapes through volcanoes located
along major cracks in the Earth’s crust (mid-oceanic ridge systems) as well as
through volcanic islands and land-based volcanoes. The rest of the heat is recycled
back down into the deeper mantle.
- motion of convection currents within the flowing asthenosphere may exert a drag
force along the bases of overlying lithospheric plates, causing them to move above
the underlying asthenosphere (but this is likely only a minor force driving plate
movement

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- the motion of mantle plumes is unlikely to be linear, but rather is chaotic, distorted
on its upward rise by slow, roiling currents of convecting hot rock in the Earth’s
upper mantle – sometimes called the ‘mantle wind’

Which forces operate to drive plate motion?

Many forces may operate in response to the release of internal heat and geologists
are not completely sure of the exact proportion of forces involved in plate motion
- of all forces, the primary one driving plate motion is probably slab pull, the
gravitational force that down-going plates apply to oceanic lithosphere at
convergent margins.
- the sheer weight of the descending plate, driven by gravity, is enormous enough to
pull along the entire plate behind it
- slab pull is likely the force that creates tension at mid-ocean ridges, permitting
magma to passively well up within the fracture along the ridge axis.

How fast do plates move?

East Pacific Rise (mid-oceanic ridge) moves at ~10 cm/year on average (4”/yr); Mid-
Atlantic Ridge moves at ~2 cm/yr (<1 “/yr)
- over long time spans like 1 m.y., plates can move ~100 km (60 mi) at these average
rates. So given enough time, plates can move significant distances.

Ancient continental configurations

The positions of continents and the opening of ocean basins can be determined by
magnetic studies of rocks on land and on the seafloor (we skipped over this
material) as well as analysis of the orientations of hot spot trails.
- the absolute motion of plates can be measured today in real time by monitoring
plate movement using the Global Positioning System (GPS) of satellites - realtime
displacements of mm/yr are recognized.
- other evidence we’ll talk more about later includes the record of depositional
environments and ancient climates recorded in sedimentary rock layers as well as
the geographic distribution of fossils

Summarizing the fundamentals of plate tectonics . . .

Plate tectonics involves the movement of cool, strong lithospheric plates over the hot,
weak, mobile asthenosphere.
- plate movement occurs at rates of 1-15 cm/yr

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- as plates move, the interior of plates remains largely intact. But rock along the
boundaries between plates deforms as its motion interacts with the motion of its
neighboring plate
- as plates move, the continents drift along as part of the plate, resulting in a
constantly changing world map through time

A note on the reading that accompanies each set of lecture notes: If you are
confused about something in the notes, then you should be able to find it in the book.
Don’t hesitate to use the book’s index or the student website provided by the
publisher of your book to search for info on a topic.
You are not required to read each and every word in each chapter - that's why
I always say 'read selectively'. But if you do take the time to read each chapter
fully, not getting bogged down in too many details, then you'll understand the lecture
material fully and will go into the exams with confidence.