Hotspot Theory Essay

There have two theories about formation of the Hawaiian Islands. Unlike other volcanoes on the Earth, the Hawaiian chain sits squarely in the middle of the Pacific plate rather than on a tectonic boundary. In 1969, “hotspot theory” was purposed by J. Tuzo Wilson to explain this unusual placement. Wilson proposed that the linear geography of the Hawaiian Islands is due to the movement of the Pacific plate over a stationary point of great heat from deep within the Earth.

The great heat from this localized hotspot melts the Pacific plate above the hotspot and the spreading seafloor along the plate boundary pushed over the rocky crust. Magma was produced from the melting rock of the Pacific plate. The magma rise through the mantle and the crust as a thin thermal plume because magma is less dense than the solid rock of the plate. It was erupting beneath the ocean to form an active seamount. With the countless eruptions under the sea, the height of seamount keep increase until it breaks the ocean surface and becomes an island volcano.

Hotspots do not move, so lava keeps erupting in the same spot over and over again. However tectonic plates move on average a few centimeters a year. While that is not a lot over a few years, a centimeter a year

The volume of Kilauea consists of cooled lave flows, irregular with scattered volcanic ash and tephra sourced from relatively lower volume explosive eruptions. Historical flows covered the volume of Kilauea, and about 90 percent of its surface is done his activity from the last 1,100 years. Kilauea took many time to build itself from the seafloor, so much if its bulk still remains undersea. Its surface is in the form of a gently sloping, elongate, decentralized shield. Now, its surface area is approximately 1,500km², and it is about 13.7 percent of the Hawaiian Islands’ total surface