Research Identifies Mantle Plume Behind Submarine Volcano Track

Under the North Atlantic lurks a submarine track of volcanoes called the New England seamount chain – the origin of which has been debated. New research suggests the chain emerged thanks to a mantle plume currently lying beneath the Azores archipelago, which likely also created other notable volcano tracks. Seamount chains emerge when a plume of hot magma breaks forth through a moving tectonic plate, creating a series of related volcanoes as the plate travels over the hotspot over time. For a long time, scientists have been trying to determine what plume formed the New England seamount chain on the North American Plate. Through 3D thermomechanical numerical experiments, Mengxue Liu and colleagues offer support for preexisting evidence that the culprit behind the New England chain is the plume currently under the Azores archipelago. Their simulations also indicate that this plume produced the Corner Rise Seamounts chain on the North American Plate and the Great Meteor seamounts on the African Plate (in addition to the Azores chain on the Eurasian Plate). To do so, the plume would have had to move in two phases: first northeastward and then northwestward. Additional results showed that subduction-driven upper mantle flow was more important than plate motion and plume-plate interactions in influencing the chain's shape over time.