The trail of underwater mountains created as the tectonic plate moved across the Hawaii hotspot over millions of years, known as the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, or the Emperor Seamounts. Credit: National Geophysical Data Center/USGS, publi…

The trail of underwater mountains created as the tectonic plate moved across the Hawaii hotspot over millions of years, known as the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, or the Emperor Seamounts. Credit: National Geophysical Data Center/USGS, public domain

The mystery of the missing plume head


By Alka Tripathy-Lang and Wendy Bohon

March 2, 2021

Did the Hawaiian-Emperor plume record plate motion or change it? New research provides a snapshot of a subducted oceanic plateau that can help scientists disentangling the geography of the geologic past.

Read more on the IRIS website.