A Hot Spot is a continuous source of magma rising to the surface.

Hot Spots can create volcanic islands, like Hawaii, Iceland, and New Zealand, or fuel hot springs and geysers like Yellowstone and Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Hot Spot's formation of Hawaii:

-Magma bubbling up from a hot spot deposits pillow lava on the seafloor and heats the surrounding ocean.

-The pillow lava piles up around the volcanic vent, forming a gently sloping cone.

-The cone emerges from the sea. Gases in the magma expand, causing steam explosions.

-Glassy rubble and hardened cinders form on the flanks of the slowly swelling volcanic cone.

-The cone disgorges flows of fluid and becomes a full-blown shield volcano. Eventually, the volcano’s summit may collapse to form a caldera.

-Intermittent eruptions add to the volcano, enlarging the base of the new island. Waves and wind batter the volcanic rock into soil. After the volcano becomes extinct, millions of years of erosion will wear away its exposed surface, returning the island to the sea.