Rarotonga hotspot

[4] As there is growing evidence that not all intra-plate volcanoes are generated by upwelling mantle plumes, not all may be formed from hot spots.

[4] Other hotspots such as Rarotonga appear to have been active only for short time periods;[6] many of these are located in French Polynesia where there is a superswell.

[5] A gap between 60-50 million years ago may have been caused by the Ontong Java Plateau burying the hotspot.

[15] The Rarotonga volcanic source and other regional hotspots appear to be anchored to a deep mantle structure that is one of the large low-shear-velocity provinces.

[17] Rarotonga itself is young but there is little indication of volcanism either southeast or northwest from it[18] and no evidence of its current position.