Galápagos hotspot

Galápagos hotspot is a volcanic hotspot responsible for the formation of the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It lies below a section of the Galapagos Rise, the divergent boundary located between the South American coast and the triple junction of the Nazca Plate, the Cocos Plate, and the Pacific Plate (the Galapagos Triple Junction). It is thought that there has been extensive interaction between the two tectonic entites (i.e. hotspot interaction with spreading center).

The undersea Cocos Ridge represents the track of the Galapagos hotspot as the Cocos Plate has passed over it for millions of years.

Lavas from the Galápagos hotspot have an uncommonly large section of upper mantle material and are in sharp contrast to more primitive, olivine-dominated lavas in Hawaii. Fernandina Island, which is the most active of the Galápagos volcanoes, completely overlies the Galápagos hotspot.

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