Volcanic landforms tend to be cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, volcanic domes, and calderas. Repose periods between eruptions tend to be hundreds to thousands of years, thus giving people living near these volcanoes a false sense of security. Hot Spots Volcanism also occurs in areas that are not associated with plate boundaries, in the interior of plates. These are most commonly associated with what is called a hot spot. Hot spots appear to result from plumes of hot mantle material upwelling toward the surface, independent of the convection cells though to cause plate motion.
Hot spots tend to be fixed in position, with the plates moving over the top.
As the rising plume of hot mantle moves upward it begins to melt to produce magmas. These magmas then rise to the surface producing a volcano. But, as the plate carrying the volcano moves away from the position over the hot spot, volcanism ceases and new volcano forms in the position now over the hot spot. Volcanism resulting from hotspots occurs in both the Atlantic and Pacific ocean, but are more evident on the sea floor of the Pacific Ocean, because the plates here move at higher velocity than those under the Atlantic Ocean. A hot spot trace shows up as a linear chain of islands and seamounts, many of which can be seen in the Pacific Ocean.