Prospecting for hotspot roots

摘要

Oceanic islands commonly form linear chains with progressively increasing age away from the active region, reflecting nearly stationary 'hotspots' beneath the moving lithospheric plate. These hotspots are believed to be produced by upwelling mantle plumes formed from instabilities at a hot thermal boundary layer in the Earth's mantle, but the depth of origin of mantle plumes has long been debated.