The Madeira hotspot is considered to be responsible for the formation of a long chain of seamounts going from the 72 million years old Serra de Monchique in Iberia to the 14-0 million years old Porto Santo and Madeira, including Coral Patch Seamount. The plate motion history of the region is complicated and some seamounts formed off-track through pulsations of the mantle plume or through lithospheric anomalies. Buckling of the crust due to plate convergence is also responsible for the uplift of Coral Patch Seamount and has pushed it over the Horseshoes Abyssal Plain.