How Volcanic Activity Helped Formed the Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are known to have great beaches all around the region. Tourists flock the island like a bee to a flower, many enjoying the big waves for surfing and lounging to get a perfect tan. But the islands can offer far more than attraction. The islands also have its own fair share of history in ‘creating’ the world we now know.
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The history and the formation of the Hawaiian Islands still marvel the modern day scientist. The Hawaiian Islands are well known as a result of volcanic activities over the past (million) years.
The extent of the volcanic activities over the past millions of years is seen evident under the Pacific Ocean floor. It stretches from the Hawaiian Islands to the Aleutian Trench. The size of the Hawaiian Ridge section is about 1,600 miles from the Hawaii Islands to the Midway Island in the northwestern part. If you measure it by land, it is about the distance of Denver, Colorado all the way to Washington, D.C. The amount of lava from the massive ridge is approximately 186,000 cubic miles. It can cover the entire state of California with a 1-mile thick layer.
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The formation of Hawaiian Island
Different tectonic plates made up the outer crust of the earth and it constantly moves over the surface of it. In some areas, where the plates converged together, a volcano may form. These volcanoes can sometimes form in the middle of the tectonic plate. Magma will rise up until it erupts on the sea floor; this occurrence is often referred as a “hot spot.”
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One such major incidence of a ‘hot spot’ happened to form the Hawaiian Islands, where magma rises in the middle of the Pacific Plate. The ‘hot spot’ itself is fixed but the tectonic plates continually move, it created a series of islands left in its wake. Thus, the Hawaiian Islands are formed.
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The Process of forming the islands
Until today, the exact formation of the Hawaiian Islands still baffles scientist. However, they are quite certain that the process of forming the Hawaiian Islands started million years ago. Deep under the Pacific Ocean, the islands are fixed to one of the rocky tectonic plates. This plate is a hot spot that constantly expels hot magma with a temperature rising up to 2,500F or 1,400C.
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Other times, this eruption can also form underwater volcanoes. When this hot lava reaches the cold ocean water, it transforms into a hard rock forming another island. As the tectonic plates creep along the earth’s surface it sometimes cut the lava source. The series of volcanic births and extinction left a trail of islands behind it. Scientist believed that the Hawaiian Islands are formed about 4.5 million years ago.
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The Hawaiian Islands formed its own archipelago that stretches over 1,500 miles in the massive region of the North Pacific Ocean. How massive? The archipelago contains 132 islands, not to mention hundreds of shallow banks, shoals, atolls, reefs and seamount from the northwestern part of Kure Atoll to the southeastern part of Hawaii.
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Another theory is that an asteroid may have caused the volcanic activity that created the islands. Nevertheless, Hawaii is considered as a location for active earthquakes year round.
The Hawaiian Islands
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One primary volcano created each of the Hawaiian Islands. But more than one volcano created many of those islands. Loihi serves as the youngest of the Hawaiian archipelago which is currently erupting at its peak at a depth of 1000 meter below the sea level.
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The Big Islands contains 5 main volcanoes. These are Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, and Kohala. The largest active volcano on the planet is Mauna Loa. While Kilauea is the most productive volcano in terms of how much lava it produces each year.
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In all of the islands, the major volcanoes are referred to as shield volcanoes. These volcanoes are named because of their low profile that looks like a warrior’s shield. The lava flows smoothly from the top going downwards.
Volcanoes in the islands
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The volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands are known to expel basalt rock. These rocks are more fluid in liquid form compare to volcanoes that expel other minerals of as silica type magma such as dacite, andesite, and rhyolite. The fluidity of the magma flows also contains properties of thicker and sometimes shorter lava flows. This is one of the reasons why the Hawaiian volcanoes typically having sloping sides. The Hawaiian hot spot created the Hawaiian volcanoes which are currently on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Age of the Islands
The Hawaii Islands are located in the southeastern part of the archipelago and are the youngest of all in the series of islands. This part overlies the hot spot and still connected to the magma source that feeds the active volcanoes in the island. The active submarine volcano known as Loihi might be the source of the magma formation of the southeastern part of the hot spot. The other Hawaiian Islands moving towards the northwestward part, except the island of Maui, had long since cut off from the magma source.
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The continuous movement of the islands towards northwestern part from the origin of the hot spot can indicate the ages of the different Hawaiian Island. The lava flows from northwest to the southeast which means, islands on the northwestern part of the archipelago are older that the southeastern part. In millions of years, Ni'ihau and Kaua'I Islands are about 5.6 to 3.8 million years old. The ages of the islands in millions of years are O’ahu about 3.4 to 2.2, Moloka'i, 1.8 to 1.3, Maui, 1.3 to 0.8; and the Hawaii as the youngest and still growing is less than .7.
Ages of the volcanoes
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Hawaii has five volcanoes, the oldest and the most inactive volcano is Kohala at the northwestern part of the island. It last erupted about 120,000 years ago. Mauna Kea is the second oldest volcano which last expelled lava about 4,000 years ago. The third oldest volcano in Hawaii is Hualalai which according to written history last erupted in 1800 to 1801. Lastly both Kilauea and Mauna Loa were active within the last two centuries. Correspondingly, Kilauea still continues to grow compared to its nearby neighbor Mauna Loa.
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