Volcanism beyond Earth: Influence on Earth-centered causality models of volcano-tectonic associations

The evolution of ideas concerning the origin of volcanic activity is far from being simple. Nevertheless, an examination of the main lines of thought about volcanism throughout history allows us to identify general trends that explain why some hypotheses were accepted at a given time, even when there was contemporary evidence suggesting critical problems of those hypotheses. Throughout history, it is observed that the form in which new pieces of evidence have been incorporated into existing paradigms has played a critical role in the development of new concepts. However, it can also be established that the drive to make new discoveries has not been accompanied always by the immediate assimilation of that evidence in the corpus of scientific research. Thus, competing ideas or hypotheses sometimes have co-existed for many years. A current example of such debates concerns the plate vs. plume origin of volcanic activity on our planet. In this work I examine this issue from a methodological point of view that combines a historical perspective with rigorous definitions of causality. The historical approach helps us to understand aspects of the debate that otherwise might be too sensitive to point out without spurring partisan reactions. The examination of causality relations serves to appreciate the many implications that the discovery of volcanic activity beyond Earth should have brought to the forefront of the debate, but that, for many reasons, has failed to do so. By combining both methodological perspectives, I present a new framework upon which questions such as “Do all intraplate volcanoes on Earth are produced by the action of mantle plumes?” can be addressed without the risk of falling into circular arguments. The framework outlined here, therefore, presents a viable alternative that could help us focus future efforts to fully understand aspects of the volcano-tectonic relationship that are difficult to appreciate given the current plate and plume paradigms.