The Underwater Geology Of The Hawaii Islands Is Just Astonishing

The Pacific Plate is moving northwestward at a significant rate – several centimeters per year. This constant plate movement over a local volcanic “hot spot,” or plume, has produced a chain of volcanic islands, one after another in assembly-line fashion. They go (really) by the name Hawaii.

The Big Island's largest volcano is called Mauna Loa and makes up approximately 51% of the island. Still, most people have a surprisingly hard time finding it as you can't tell from its shield shape you're seeing an actual mountain. Actually, all of Hawaii's volcanoes are "shield volcanoes," named after their resemblance to the shape of a warrior's shield. Shield volcanoes are formed by molten lava rising from a hot spot in Earth's crust and erupting through various vents and rifts on the surface, eventually flowing down the gentle slopes toward the ocean, building up layer upon layer over millions of years.