EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The Hawaiian Islands were formed by a volcanic hot spot, an upwelling plume of magma, that creates new islands as the Pacific Plate moves over it.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Hawaiian Islands are all classified as shield volcanoes. Hawaiian shield volcanoes are formed by lava flowing on the ocean floor and building layer upon layer into great volcanoes. The hot spot theory explains that magma from the upper mantle rises through a channel into a magma chamber called a hot spot.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Hawaiian Islands are at the southeast end of a chain of volcanoes that began to form more than 70 million years ago. Each island is made of one or more volcanoes, which first erupted on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and emerged above sea level only after countless eruptions.

Detailed explanation-4: -(3) Transform Boundaries Tectonic Plates and Active Volcanoes of the World: Most active volcanoes are located along or near the boundaries of Earth’s shifting tectonic plates. Hawaiian volcanoes, however, occur in the middle of the Pacific Plate and are formed by volcanism over the Hawaiian “Hot Spot” (see text).

Detailed explanation-5: -Hawai’i is located thousands of kilometers from the nearest plate boundary, but it is volcanically active and geologically very young. The oceanic crust on which the Hawaiian Islands reside is nearly 90 million years old, yet the oldest of these islands was formed a mere 5 million years ago.