In geology, a hotspot is a location on the Earth's surface that has experienced active volcanism for a long period of time.

Hotspots were thought to be caused by a narrow stream of hot mantle convecting up from the mantle-core boundary called a mantle plume, the latest geological evidence is pointing to upper-mantle convection as a cause.

This in turn has re-raised the antipodal pair impact hypothesis, the idea that pairs of opposite hot spots may result from the impact of a large meteor.

Geologists have identified some 40-50 such hotspots around the globe, with Hawaii, Reunion, Yellowstone, Galapagos, and Iceland overlying the most currently active..

For more information about the topic Hotspot (geology), read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Mantle plume — A mantle plume is an upwelling of abnormally hot rock within the Earth's mantle. As the heads of mantle plumes can partly melt when they reach ...  > read more

Biodiversity hotspot — A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region that is both a significant reservoir of biodiversity and is threatened with destruction. The term ...  > read more

Yellowstone Caldera — The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes known as the Yellowstone supervolcano, is a volcanically active region in Yellowstone National Park. It measures ...  > read more

Shield volcano — A shield volcano is a wide volcano with shallowly-sloping sides. Shield volcanoes are formed by lava flows of low viscosity - lava that flows easily. ...  > read more

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