Reunion Island, from crust to core
Most volcanoes on Earth are located on the edges of tectonic plates. Others, such as Kilauea in Hawaii or the Piton de la Fournaise in Reunion Island, are situated at the center of oceanic plates and seem insensitive to tectonics. These hotspots have been very active for several tens of millions of years and their origin is hotly debated in the community of Earth Sciences. They could provide valuable information on the deep working of the planet and its cooling. Many of these hotspots are located in the middle of oceans, which makes them difficult to instrument. Technical advances in recent decades have enabled the safe deployment of measuring instruments on the ocean floor for long periods of measurement.The project RHUM-RUM has to image the deep structure of the earth, from the crust to the core, at a depth of 2900 km, around Reunion Island, to provide answers on the origin of this volcanism.