<p>What causes the large and very long lasting magma plumes which rise up from the mantle and create a hot spot such as the ones which built the island chains of Hawaii and Galapagos? The volcanic islands erupt in chains when oceanic plate slowly moves over the hot spot in the course of many millions of years, but what causes these magma plumes to rise in the first place, in other words what initiates them, and is their location purely random?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-20T12:32:32.183Z
Do you mean mantle plumes? There are no "magma plumes"; there are plumes of hot, *solid* mantle, that rise and can partially melt by adiabatic decompression when reaching the lithosphere. The question of spatial distribution has already been answered here: https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/589
Jean-Marie Prival
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-23T08:59:45.780Z
Does this answer your question? [Are mantle plumes distributed around the core randomly or in a known pattern?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/589/are-mantle-plumes-distributed-around-the-core-randomly-or-in-a-known-pattern)
Will
<volcanology><plate-tectonics><mantle-plumes><islands>
What initiates the plumes which create oceanic hot spots?
Michael Walsby
# What initiates the plumes which create oceanic hot spots?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-20)

What causes the large and very long lasting magma plumes which rise up from the mantle and create a hot spot such as the ones which built the island chains of Hawaii and Galapagos? The volcanic islands erupt in chains when oceanic plate slowly moves over the hot spot in the course of many millions of years, but what causes these magma plumes to rise in the first place, in other words what initiates them, and is their location purely random?

**Tags:** volcanology, plate-tectonics, mantle-plumes, islands

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Do you mean mantle plumes? There are no "magma plumes"; there are plumes of hot, *solid* mantle, that rise and can partially melt by adiabatic decompression when reaching the lithosphere. The question of spatial distribution has already been answered here: https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/589  
> **username_2**: Does this answer your question? [Are mantle plumes distributed around the core randomly or in a known pattern?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/589/are-mantle-plumes-distributed-around-the-core-randomly-or-in-a-known-pattern)  

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