Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
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After decades of speculation, scientists have linked the massive Ontong-Java Plateau to the Louisville hotspot, solving a volcanic mystery that rewrites the Pacific Ocean’s geologic history.
A trail of ancient seamounts near Samoa, once overlooked, turned out to be fossil clues—evidence of a lost volcanic track from tens of millions of years ago, long buried or submerged.
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By tracing volcanic “footprints,” researchers pieced together a shattered record of seafloor motion, reshaping our understanding of how Earth’s plates have drifted and evolved.
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As tectonic plates move, hotspots leave volcanic scars behind. This trail, once obscured, now reveals that the same hotspot built both the Ontong-Java Plateau and the Louisville seamount chain.
Credit: NIWA
Older models of Pacific plate movement didn’t match the physical record. With this new data, scientists have revised Pacific plate models, changing how we predict tectonic behavior.
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Parts of the original hotspot trail were pushed beneath the crust, lost in subduction zones. To find the connection, scientists had to explore submerged, forgotten volcanoes deep in the ocean.
Credit: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The team compared volcanic trails to footprints in the sand—older as you move away from the source. This analogy helped track how the Pacific Ocean basin evolved over deep time.
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Published in Nature, this finding is one of the most significant tectonic discoveries in years—uniting distant volcanic systems and unlocking millions of years of hidden planetary activity.
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Though one mystery is solved, countless more remain. This study opens the door to tracing other ancient volcanic features and uncovering the deep dynamics of Earth’s shifting surface.
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