Although Hawaii is not the only place in the world where you will find volcanoes, Hawaii is one of the best places in the world to see the destructive and constructive nature of volcanoes at its best. Although the Big Island often comes to mind when thinking about active volcanoes such as Kilauea and Mauana Loa, it is important to remember that all of the Hawaiian Islands are made up of volcanoes that have formed from a hot spot on the sea bed of the Pacific Ocean.
What’s surprising is that the eight major Hawaiian Islands are the only land masses formed by this particular hotspot, they are actually the youngest islands of an immense, mostly underwater mountain chain on the Pacific Plate consisting of over 80 volcanoes and 132 islands, shoals, and reefs.
Nevertheless, the as the plate continues to move northwest, the hot spot remains and continues to spew out magma onto the seabed, starting the cycle all over again to produce another island. Currently, a new island has already begun to form about 15 miles southeast of the Big Island, and it is named Loihi. It will take about another thirty or forty thousand years before the seamount will reach the surface to create an island.
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