In a startling
revelation, US geoscientist Ian Norton
of the Exxon
Exploration Company
in Houston,
Texas has claimed
that the hot spot
in the deep mantle
under the Pacific
plates has moved
relative to the
earth's lower
mantle. It was
thought earlier that hot
spots are anchored
in one place, while
the plates moved.
Studying the dog-leg
Shaped Havaiian-Emperor
chain of submarine volcanoes,
Norton realised that
it has turned
sharply at an angle
of 60C. Norton,
speculating on the
hot spot, believes
that when the
Emperor chain
evolved, the
spot was closer to
the surface and
experienced movement
propelled
by some mantle
current (New
Scientist, Vol 148,
No 2004).
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