Plate tectonic mechanisms explain most of the dominant types of volcanism. Intraplate volcanism has been attributed to hot spots associated with mantle plumes, though alternative explanations have been proposed for settings not fed by plumes. We report young intraplate volcanism in an amagmatic margin south of Greenland in a 40 Ma old plate. An elongated structure with a length of 110 km and a height of 2500 m above basement extends at an oblique angle to the Mid Atlantic ridge and the fracture zones. We propose that this structure is related to reactivation of a rudimentary fracture zone by edge-driven convection across Minna Fracture Zone and partial melting caused by glacial rebound during the periodic melting of ice on Greenland in the last 3 Ma.
AWI Organizations > Geosciences > Marine Geology and Paleontology