Urgent!Describe/What is intra-plate volcanism? With diagram.

The vast majority of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur near plate boundaries, but there are some exceptions. For example, the Hawaiian Islands, which are entirely of volcanic origin, have formed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean more than 3,200 km from the nearest plate boundary.

Its formation is a result of hot spot.
Hot spot is the place where hot magma rises from the mantle to the earth's surface. It's position is relatively stationary.


The volcanoes of the Hawaiian chain should get progressively older and become more eroded the farther they travel beyond the hotspot. The oldest volcanic rocks on Kauai, the northwesternmost inhabited Hawaiian island, are about 5.5 million years old and are deeply eroded. By comparison, on the "Big Island" of Hawaii -- southeasternmost in the chain and presumably still positioned over the hotspot -- the oldest exposed rocks are less than 0.7 million years old and new volcanic rock is continually being formed.




digram:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/hot_spot.gif


Websites:

http://search.usgs.gov/results.html?cx=005083607223377578371%3Ab5ixbbpqpx0&cof=FORID%3A11&q=hot+spot#983