What kind of volcanism formed the hawaiian islands

The Hawaiian Emperor seamount chain is a well-known example of a large seamount and island chain created by hot-spot volcanism. Each island or submerged seamount in the chain is successively older toward the northwest. Near Hawaii, the age progression from island to island can be used to calculate the motion of the Pacific Oceanic plate toward the northwest.

The youngest seamount of the Hawaiian chain is Loihi, which presently is erupting from its summit at a depth of meters. The lava then cools and hardens to create new land. Hot-spot volcanism can occur in the middle of tectonic plates. In the case of the Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific Plate is continually moving to the northwest over the Hawaiian hot spot. This movement caused the Hawaiian chain of islands to form. There are many landforms around the Hawaiian Islands that formed from the same volcanic hot spot.

Scientists believe this hot spot has been expelling lava for roughly 70 million years. Many of these landforms created by volcanoes are still submerged. Also submerged are the peaks of the Emperor Seamount to the northwest of Hawai'i, which is part of the same chain of volcanic formations. A seamount is a submarine mountain.

The Emperor Seamount extends for more than 6, kilometers 3, miles from Hawai'i up to the Aleutian Trench in Alaska. In total, more than , cubic kilometers , cubic miles of lava erupted to form all of the landforms in the Hawaiian—Emperor chain.

Volcanic activity is still occurring on the southern shore of the Big Island, the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands. In , the Kilauea volcano erupted spectacularly and inundated over 30 square kilometers The layer of lava was up to 24 meters 79 feet thick in places—taller than a six-story building.

Of these four volcanoes, only Hualalai and Mauna Loa are active. Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island, is in fact the tallest mountain in the world measured from its base to its top.

But nearly 6, meters 19, feet of its height is below the sea, so we only see about 4, meters 13, feet of it. As the Pacific Plate continues to move at a rate of roughly seven centimeters 2. This material will eventually form another Hawaiian island. Located about 35 kilometers 22 miles off the southern coast of the Big Island, this future island already has a name: Loihi. As lava continues to be deposited on Loihi, scientists predict that it will rise above sea level sometime between 10, and , years from now.

Collapses occur over a range of scales from as large as the whole flank of a volcano, to bench collapses on the south coast of Big Island, to small rock falls. Intrusive magma is more dense and structurally stronger than lava flows.

The authors hope this new density model can be used as a starting point for further crustal studies in the Hawaiian Islands. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Science News. Journal Reference : Ashton F. Flinders, Garrett Ito, Michael O. Garcia, John M. Sinton, Jim Kauahikaua, Brian Taylor.