A mantle plume origin for the Samoan hotspot has been contested because the ages along its putative trail did not seem to increase monotonically. New dates from the island of Savai'i resolve the controversy and favour a plume origin.
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Gordon, R. A tale of a trail. Nature Geosci 1, 574–575 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo295
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo295
