Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. By John Fischer John Fischer. John Fischer is a freelance travel writer and photographer who specializes in Hawaii and the South Pacific. TripSavvy's editorial guidelines. New York University. Rutgers University. Erin Medlicott is a fact checker and researcher with a background in lifestyle and finance.
She earned a. TripSavvy's fact-checking. Share Pin Email. Continue to 5 of 5 below. The hotspot is thought to lurk for now below the archipelago's youngest and most active landmass, the Big Island of Hawaii.
While the hotspot itself remains largely stationary, the overriding Pacific plate does not; it creeps northwest at a rate of three to four inches each year. Because of this, the volcanic activity on the planet's surface also shifts.
That movement formed the series of islands, which are progressively older as you go westward. On the more ancient landmasses, the volcanoes are no longer active because they have been cut off from the hotspot's supply of magma. Volcanoes born from this activity actually extend much further than we can see. The Hawaiian archipelago is merely the latest, largely above-water result of volcanism that began some 70 million years ago.
It's part of a massive mountain range known as the Hawaiian Ridge-Emperor Seamounts chain , which stretches some 3, miles and nearly reaches the coast of Alaska.
Most volcanoes form near the edges of Earth's tectonic plates, the ever-shifting puzzle pieces that make up the planet's surface. But the Hawaiian volcanic chain resides far from any plate edges. In , Canadian geophysicist John Tuzo-Wilson proposed that tectonic plate movement over a hotspot could explain these volcanic enigmas. In the years since, additional research has refined and added detail to that early notion.
As it moves an estimated inches per year, it carries with it any land that formed during volcanic eruptions. The result is like an assembly line. The hotspot stays in one place, producing new land through eruptions, and the pacific plate carries them away. It will follow in the footsteps of the older Hawaiian Islands to the northwest, and volcanic activity on the island will cease. New volcanic islands, still unborn, will come up behind it.
Explore This Park. Info Alerts Maps Calendar Reserve. While the hotspot itself remains largely stationary, the overriding Pacific plate does not; it creeps northwest at a rate of three to four inches each year.
Because of this, the volcanic activity on the planet's surface also shifts. That movement formed the series of islands, which are progressively older as you go westward. On the more ancient landmasses, the volcanoes are no longer active because they have been cut off from the hotspot's supply of magma. Volcanoes born from this activity actually extend much further than we can see.
The Hawaiian archipelago is merely the latest, largely above-water result of volcanism that began some 70 million years ago. It's part of a massive mountain range known as the Hawaiian Ridge-Emperor Seamounts chain , which stretches some 3, miles and nearly reaches the coast of Alaska.
Most volcanoes form near the edges of Earth's tectonic plates, the ever-shifting puzzle pieces that make up the planet's surface. But the Hawaiian volcanic chain resides far from any plate edges. In , Canadian geophysicist John Tuzo-Wilson proposed that tectonic plate movement over a hotspot could explain these volcanic enigmas. In the years since, additional research has refined and added detail to that early notion. One particularly curious feature is that there's a sharp turn in the middle of the Hawaiian Ridge-Emperor Seamounts chain.
While its origins have been debated, it likely reflects a shift in the motion of the Pacific plate. Many more questions remain unanswered: Where do Hawaii's hotspot plumes come from? How long do they usually stick around? How does magma split between the Big Island's currently active volcanoes?
With continued research, scientists hope to dig through these and other lingering mysteries.
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