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.

A similar fate awaits the Big Island. As the Pacific Plate carries the islands piggyback-style away to the north-west and the hot spot "moves away", the Big Island will also fall victim to subsidence and erosion, eventually meeting a similar fate to that of Maui Nui. It will turn into separate, smaller islands as the ocean encroaches on the flanks of each separate mountain. For the next few thousand years, however, the Big Island will remain just that big! Also, Mauna Loa and Kilauea are currently still active and erupting, so the island of Hawaii is still growing.