In a single-continent world, what could cause hydrothermal vents?
In the world I'm building, there is a single continent. However, in the deeper parts of the ocean, there are hydrothermal vents. They're pretty necessary to my story, but I can't figure out why they would be there as to my knowledge they usually need to be near cracks in the tectonic plates.
I don't know if it's worth noting, but the core of my world is very small and there is little magma to be found. The hydrothermal vents are also about 16 500 ft down instead of around 16 000 feet.
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You can have tectonic plates even on a water world, that is still "land" under there, you just have enough water to cover it all.
In your case, any tectonic plates carrying enough land to break through water are all adjacent to each other; just like our continents were once all adjacent. Look at early Earth and Pangaea for an example.
With multiple plates you can still have mountains, valleys, etc. No problems with it, just as you have it. Any tectonic plate joins under the ocean are just plates that don't carry enough land to be seen above water.
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