For many years now with the theory of plate tectonics firmly in place people have said that volcanoes are caused when molten material from the Earth’s core manages to seep through to the surface. Now Geophysicists at Virginia Tech are hoping to challenge this theory as they argue that Volcanoes may be caused by something a lot closer.

Something called the asthenosphere, to be precise. This is a layer fairly close to the surface of the Earth lying between 80 to 200 km deep in the Earth’s surface. Don L. Anderson, an emeritus professor with the Seismological Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, and Scott King, a professor of geophysics in the College of Science at Virginia Tech feel that this layer is responsible for volcanoes and not the previously believed shifting of plates.

They feel that a hot layer just below the plates is what the volcanoes spew out rather than material coming from deep conduits located halfway to the center of the Earth. While traditionally geologists have viewed the asthenosphere as an inactive layer, the new research paper says that it could be the actual source of volcanic activity. While the findings of this science project are interesting more studies need to be conducted to confirm this new hypothesis.