We think of Hawaii as a great pimple in the sea, its volcanoes the result of deep inflammation in the form of a hotspot. While we can see that hotspots are sights of active volcanism and thus are fed by hotter magma than their surroundings, we don't exactly know the reason they form. They are distant from the edges of tectonic plates, where the crust will melt and deform based on how the plates interact with one another. When scientists try to image what's going on beneath a hotspot volcano using seismic waves, they see all sorts of different heat distribution patterns.
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| Figure 1: The results of seismic wave imaging underneath five hotspots from around the world. Red regions are hotter compared to average mantle temperature, and blue is colder. (Nolet, G., Allen, R.M., & Zhao, D., 2007). |
But just because a mantle plume can explain these things doesn't mean they're a scientifically sound theory. The biggest question scientists have, and the one you may be asking is, what is a mantle plume?
Mantle plumes are supposedly shaped like mushrooms, with a distinct bulbous head and thin tail. However, some structures considered mantle plumes may be headless or tailless. The concentrations of chemicals in them differ broadly, including the ones that tell us how deep in the mantle they originated. Scientists have an easier time making new categories to distinguish different mantle plumes than lumping them together.
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If a major part of the idea you wanted to get across was a debate between what we do and do not know, there should be a little bit more explanation as to what these differing ideas are and why that matters. Jargon is also a little heavy here, so lots of metaphors and breaking down of complex ideas would be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI love have casual your writing style is and how easy it is to read your blog. My one concern is that you introduce a lot of terms that you don't explain fully (hot spot, plate tectonics). I think your paper would benefit by describing these terms
ReplyDeleteI like the topic- however I worry about not explaining tectonics, and why hot spots do not fall within this paradigm of geology (likely not common knowledge outside of the scientific community). I think maybe the first figure is a bit too technical and it is not clear what people are looking at if they are not familiar with seismic tomography studies.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comments above--there is a little too much jargon for the general audience to understand the background information. The second figure is particularly helpful, and you do a good job describing in the preceding paragraph. In your introduction, you write "While we can see that hotspots are sights of active volcanism"--this is in the incorrect spelling; it should be "sites".
ReplyDeleteI like the analogy that you started off with where you compared Hawaii to a pimple. I think you should include more analogies or build upon the pimple analogy so that you have less jargon. Your second figure is very useful for people that may not be familiar with this topic.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good start, but work on reducing the jargon in this blog post, and while the pimple in the sea is interesting, what audience do you think will appreciate this analogy? Remember to reach the widest possible audience in this effort. What will the general audience know about mantle temperatures? What do you think they need to know? What temperature contrasts are seen in your Fig. 1? The idea of a plume should be compared with something that most people will recognize.
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