Rarotonga hotspot

The Rarotonga hotspot is in the Pacific Ocean, between the points 24 and 35 in this map.

The Rarotonga hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the southern Pacific Ocean. The hotspot is claimed to be responsible for the formation of Rarotonga and some volcanics of Aitutaki but an alternative explanation for these islands most recent volcanics has not been ruled out.[1] Recently alternatives to hotspot activity have been offered for several other intra-plate volcanoes that may have been associated with the Rarotonga hotspot hypothesis.[2][3]

In addition to these volcanoes in the Cook Islands, the composition of volcanic rocks in Samoa and in the Lau Basin may have been influenced by the Rarotonga hotspot, and some atolls and seamounts in the Marshall Islands may have formed on the hotspot as well.

  1. ^ Jackson et al. 2020, p. 11.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Igor2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wei2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).