SafekipediaRéunion hotspot
Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience
The Réunion hotspot is a volcanic hotspot under the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. It has been active for over 65 million years.
A very big eruption from this hotspot made a huge area of basalt lava in central India called the Deccan Traps. This happened around the same time that dinosaurs disappeared from Earth.
As the Indian tectonic plate moved north, the hotspot kept erupting. This created a chain of volcanic islands and underwater areas. Places like the Laccadive Islands, the Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago are what remain of these old volcanoes.
More recently, the hotspot has formed islands such as Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues.
Today, the Piton de la Fournaise, a shield volcano on the southeastern part of Réunion, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. This shows the ongoing power of the Réunion hotspot.
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This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Réunion hotspot, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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