What causes volcanic hotspots?

Volcanic hotspots are like geysers that pop up in the middle of the ocean, sending lava everywhere.

Imagine Earth's surface is a big plate, kind of like a giant cookie. Most volcanoes happen where these plates crash or slide past each other, it’s like when two kids bump into each other at the playground and spill their juice boxes.

But volcanic hotspots are different. They’re like hidden lava engines deep inside Earth. These engines are super hot, and they melt the rocks around them, creating molten rock, or magma. This magma then bubbles up through the Earth's crust, just like how a soda can fizzes when you open it.

A famous example is Hawaii. It’s like a string of islands formed by a hotspot that’s been moving slowly over time, kind of like a lava tap moving across a kitchen counter.

Sometimes, these hotspots can even cause new land to form, just like how a cake rises in the oven when it bakes!