'Well, there's speculation that it's due to a mantle hotspot.' --a geologist who's trying to cover up the fact that they didn't hear your question
https://xkcd.com/3221/
@XKCD Bot the rocky mountains are volcanic? i thought they were the results of plate tectonics ... the subduction in the pacific ...
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@jabgoe2089 True, but the area labelled “volcanoes” along the California–Nevada border and up through Oregon and Washington is not the Rockies but the Sierra Madre and Cascade ranges, which are indeed volcanic. The Rockies lay a bit further to the northeast, on the eastern edge of “geology”.

The Pacific subduction is the “Tectonics speedrun” along the coast.