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Mantle hotspots, plumes and regional tectonics as causes of intraplate magmatism
Author(s) -
Hawkesworth C. J.,
Gallagher K.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3121.1993.tb00304.x
Subject(s) - magmatism , geology , hotspot (geology) , intraplate earthquake , mantle (geology) , lithosphere , mantle plume , earth science , plate tectonics , plume , tectonics , geochemistry , geophysics , paleontology , physics , thermodynamics
In continental areas it is often difficult to determine the cause of intraplate magmatism. Large volumes of magma, high eruption rates, and the presence of a hotspot trace on the adjacent ocean floor, are all evidence for the presence of an anomalously hot mantle. However, in many continental magmas there are chemical variations with time which are inferred to reflect changes from asthenospheric to predominantly lithospheric source regions, or vice versa. It is argued that these chemical characteristics constrain whether magmatism was triggered by the emplacement of a mantle plume, or by lithospheric extension.