Plume tectonics is a geoscientific theory that finds its roots in the mantle doming concept which was especially popular during the 1930s and initially did not accept major plate movements and continental drifting.
[1] The initial followers of the concept during the first half of the 20th century are scientists like Beloussov and van Bemmelen, and recently the concept has gained interest especially in Japan, through new compiled work on palaeomagnetism, and is still advocated by the group of scientists elaboration upon Earth expansion.
[2] It is nowadays generally not accepted as the main theory to explain the driving forces of tectonic plate movements, although numerous modulations on the concept have been proposed.
In its more modern form, conceived in the 1970s, it tries to reconcile in one single geodynamic model the horizontalistic concept of plate tectonics, and the verticalistic concepts of mantle plumes, by the gravitational movement of plates away from major domes of the Earth's crust.
The existence of various supercontinents in Earth history and their break-up has been associated recently with major upwellings of the mantle.