The Hawaiian Islands began to form near the end of the dinosaur era. Lava leaked onto the floor of the Pacific Ocean near the present site of the main island of Hawaii. Over the next seventy million years, more than one hundred small fields of lava grew by repeated eruptions until they reached the ocean surface to become large volcanic islands. (Wright) The Hawaiian hot spot produced the Hawaiian volcanoes. The hot spot is presently located under the Big Island of Hawaii. The volcanoes become increasingly older moving along the island chain from southeast (Hawaii) to northwest (Kure). Beyond Kure, the Hawaiian chain continues as a series of now-submerged former islands. These islands are known as the Emperor seamounts. The moving sea floor of the North Pacific Ocean is thought to be the cause of the progression in age of the volcanoes. The Pacific Ocean is mostly floored by a single tectonic plate. As the plate moves over a fixed spot deeper in the Earth where magma forms, a new volcano can push through the plate and create an island. This "hot spot" is how the Hawaiian islands are believed to be formed. The volcano stops erupting and a new one is formed in its place as the plate moves away. The volcanoes drift westward and get older relative to the one active volcano that is over the hotspot. The crust upon which they sit cools and subsides as they age. Combined with the erosion of the islands once active volcanism stops leads to a shrinking of the islands with age and eventually become submerged below the surface of the ocean. (Rubin)
