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The Local Setting of the Galapagos Archipelago Galapagos Archipelago Bathymetry  | | The Galapagos Islands sit atop of the Galapagos Platform, highlighted by the color white. Bathymetric data compiled by William Chadwick, Oregon State University. |
The upward motion of the mantle plumes pushes up the overlying lithosphere. This, together with magmatic thickening of the crust, is responsible for the Galapagos Platform, a shallow region of the ocean upon which the Galapagos Islands sit. The bulge can be clearly seen along the western and southern margins of the island of Isabela. This bulge disappears as you move eastward along the southern margin of the platform. This is due to the Airy compensation which dominates in the central platform. The Galapagos archipelago is composed of several major volcanic islands which rest atop a large platform. The volcanoes are aligned in a north-northwest orientation, plus perpendicular lineations. These lineations were first noted by Charles Darwin and are termed "Darwinian trends". This trend is supported by structural evidence, such as, parallel linking fissures between the volcanoes and common caldera orientations from a large scale view.
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