HONOLULU, July 20 -- The University of Hawaii issued the following news release:
New research shows the Hawaiian mantle plume has gotten hotter by about 250degC (480degF) over the past 47 million years. Led by Earth scientists at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, the study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, reverses the long-held idea that hotspots start out very hot and progressively cool with time. Researchers also found that heat surges produced the two largest volcanoes along the Northwestern and Main Hawaiian Island chain.
The Hawaiian Ridge consists of 65 volcanoes spread over 3,500 km (2,179 miles) that were formed during the past 47 million years as the Pacific plate slowly moved over the Hawaiian hotspot, where a...