* Hotspot: Deep beneath the Earth's surface, there's a "hotspot" – a plume of extremely hot mantle rock that rises from the Earth's core. This hot rock melts, creating magma.
* Volcanic Eruption: The magma is lighter than the surrounding rock, so it rises and erupts through the ocean floor, creating underwater volcanoes.
* Island Formation: Over millions of years, the repeated eruptions build up layers of lava, eventually rising above sea level and forming islands.
* Plate Movement: The Pacific Plate, on which the islands sit, is constantly moving. As the plate moves over the stationary hotspot, new volcanoes form, creating a chain of islands. The older islands, further away from the hotspot, become inactive and erode.
This is how the Hawaiian Island chain came to be:
* The youngest island: Hawaii (the Big Island) is the youngest and still actively volcanic.
* Older islands: The islands further northwest, like Maui, Oahu, and Kauai, are older and no longer volcanically active.
* Eroded Islands: Even further northwest, there are submerged islands and seamounts, remnants of ancient volcanoes that have eroded away.
This process of volcanic activity and plate movement is a continuous cycle, constantly shaping the Hawaiian Islands and other island chains around the world.