Some of Earth’s volcanic hot spots aren’t actually that hot, a new study finds.
Scientists suspect that many of these sites of isolated volcanism are fed by
, casting doubt that volcanic activity there is driven by deep-mantle plumes. The results could help scientists figure out the mysterious processes unfolding at various sites of volcanism in the interior of plates. The team focused on 26 volcanic hot spots in oceanic areas that previous studies had suggested were fed by deep-mantle plumes. The researchers used seismic data to estimate the temperature of mantle material at various depths from 260 to 600 kilometers. In general, the hotter the material is, the slower that seismic waves travel through it.
Temperatures at mid-ocean ridges average about 1388° Celsius . For a dozen of the hot spots the team studied, deep-mantle material was more than 155° C warmer than mid-ocean ridge material, Bao and his team report. Material that hot is more than warm enough to rise to Earth’s surface, chew through overlying crust and create prodigious volcanic activity.
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