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Hotspot (geology)
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.
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Earth & Climate News
May 24, 2026
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May 20, 2026 For decades, scientists believed ancient humans avoided dense rainforests, treating them as nearly impossible environments for early survival. But a groundbreaking discovery in West Africa is rewriting that story. Researchers uncovered evidence that ...
May 20, 2026 Scientists in Australia are using cutting-edge DNA techniques to help save one of the world’s rarest marsupials — the critically endangered Gilbert’s potoroo, with fewer than 150 left in the wild. By analyzing tiny traces of DNA in the ...
May 19, 2026 Scientists have uncovered an astonishing new chapter in humpback whale migration: two whales were found to have traveled between breeding grounds in Australia and Brazil, crossing more than 14,000 kilometers of open ocean. One whale shattered ...
May 19, 2026 A hidden network of earthquake faults running beneath Seattle may be far more active than scientists realized. New research reveals that smaller “secondary” faults in the Seattle Fault Zone ...
May 19, 2026 Antarctica’s Hektoria Glacier collapsed with shocking speed, retreating 15 miles in only 15 months and setting a modern record for grounded ice loss. Scientists say warming conditions and ...
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May 21, 2026 Jupiter’s storms aren’t just gigantic — they may unleash lightning far more powerful than anything on Earth. Using NASA’s Juno spacecraft, scientists discovered that some lightning bolts on ...
May 16, 2026 A mysterious underwater fault near Ecuador has been producing nearly identical magnitude 6 earthquakes every five to six years, baffling scientists for decades. Researchers now believe the fault ...
May 14, 2026 Deep beneath Portugal’s São Jorge Island, a massive surge of magma silently pushed upward from more than 20 kilometers underground in 2022, ...
May 14, 2026 Scientists exploring deep underwater canyons off the coast of Western Australia uncovered a hidden world packed with bizarre and elusive marine life — including signs of the legendary giant squid. ...
May 14, 2026 Scientists have finally cracked the mystery behind one of climate change’s strangest fingerprints: while Earth’s surface heats up, the upper atmosphere is rapidly cooling. Researchers at Columbia ...
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May 13, 2026 A remote island between Australia and Antarctica is showing signs of a dramatic climate transformation. Scientists found storms over Macquarie Island ...
May 13, 2026 Humans may have returned to Britain far earlier than scientists once believed — not long after the last ice sheet began retreating. New evidence ...
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