A hot spot is a place where incredibly hot rock from the mantle rises toward the surface of a crustal plate, usually far away from the plate boundaries, causing a melting of the crust with the associated volcanism. A hot spot, unlike other forms of volcanism that rely on plate subduction or divergence, is due to rising heat from a specific location in the mantle, or core mantle boundary, which is very localized, not broadly regionalized. The Hawaiian Islands are a great example of the resultant landforms created by a hot spot that exists under oceanic crust. While the crust moves over the hot spot due to plate tectonics, volcanic mountains build up on the ocean floor, eventually breaching the surface of the water. As the crust moves away, the existing volcanic mountains become inactive and