Collaborative Research: PLUME - A Seismic Experiment to Image the Hawaiian Hotspot and Swell

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will deploy 64 wide-band ocean-bottom seismometers and ten portable broad-band seismic island stations in a 15-month-long investigation. The objectives are to: locate and image the plume conduit beneath the Hawaiian hotspot, image the roots of the Hawaiian swell over a sufficient area and with a sufficient resolution to distinguish among competing hypotheses for plume-lithosphere interaction, and relate the findings from the seismic imaging experiments to geodynamical and geochemical, models for mantle plumes.