New Study Explains Formation of Volcano Clusters

Earth’s surface is in constant flux, resulting in the formation of many geologic features. Long chains of volcanic arcs originate where two plates converge and one oceanic plate sinks below another. The expelled water from the sinking plate undergoes a pressure and temperature increase, causing the overlying mantle to melt to form magma. Water and temperature distribution in the mantle are deciding factors that dictate the location of the mantle melt and the resulting distribution of volcanic chains.

The clustered distribution of the arc volcanoes of Northeast Japan and Izu-Bonin suggests an uneven temperature distribution in the mantle during formation. Professors Changyeol Lee (Yonsei University) and Ikuko Wada (University of Minnesota) further analyzed this theory that relates the uneven temperature distributions to the spreading of the back-arc.