1. Hot Spot Example http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/hot_spot.gif At a hot spot, magma from within the mantle pushes up the earth's crust resulting in the formation of an undersea volcano. Over time the volcano emerges from beneath the sea, and an island is born

2. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/Fig30.gif

3. http://www.platetectonics.com/oceanfloors/images/Hawaiin_chain_4.jpg

4. “A few hotspots are thought to exist below the North American Plate. Perhaps the best known is the hotspot presumed to exist under the continental crust in the region of Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming. The thermal energy of the presumed Yellowstone hotspot fuels more than 10,000 hot pools and springs, geysers (like Old Faithful), and bubbling mudpots (pools of boiling mud).” URL: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/hotspots.html Last updated: 05.05.99