Noronha hotspot

[1] The hotspot is located over the South America Plate, which moves west-southwestward at a rate of 45 millimetres per year (1.8 in/year),[2] and is considered to be part of a West African superplume.

[6] The hotspot 30 million years ago passed by northeastern Brazil,[7] and some of the continental volcanics appear to have been erupted at the time of plume passage.

[17][16] The mantle plume that feeds the Noronha hotspot appears to combine several different types of magma judging by the isotope ratios of the erupted rocks.

[11] In addition, the plume material would have mixed with lithospheric melts to derive the rocks erupted by the continental volcanics.

[18] If the Noronha hotspot is allowed to wander in the mantle,[19] it is possible to reconstruct a path where it runs through Louisiana, Florida and the Bahamas between 180 and 150 million years ago.

[22] Alternatively, if it passed farther east it may be identical with the "Newark plume" that is considered responsible for the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province; generally speaking the position of the North America Plate is fairly uncertain before 130 million years ago.