Using data provided, the students construct a bar graph showing the relationship of each island’s size and age relative to its location in the chain. Eventually cooled, first (hot) rains fell. The Hawaiian Islands are formed by volcanic activity, despite the nearest plate margin being 3,200 km away. That is why they are in a line with the older more eroded islands being much smaller. The oldest islands are the furthest to the West from the hot spot. Hawaii is the youngest island and it is still being formed today; thus, Hawaii is currently at the hot spot location.

Then rains cooled the surface of the Earth, began to erode the surface rock and formed the first oceans.

The first comprehensive theory of continental drift was suggested by the German meteorologist Alfred Wegener in 1912.

Originally Wilson proposed it in regard to the Hawaiian islands chain, and the proposal is much as described in the previous two answers: basically the Pacific plate moving over a fixed upwelling from the mantle ("hot spot" or "mantle plume") this accounting for both the east-west sequence of islands and their relative ages. Students are Actually, the Hawaiian Islands consist of a much longer "archipelago" or chain of islands.

Students use the Hawaiian Island Map to see the main islands in the Hawaiian Island chain. 2 Educator Answers What features of the Hawaiian Islands are not explained by plate tectonics?

Erosion of surface rocks: "locked" CO2 into rocks. Use Questions 1–4 to help you form your hypothesis about the formation of the Hawaiian island chain.

These volcanoes are much less explosive than the composite volcanoes formed at subduction zones. Form your hypothesis. Then, use the data to test your hypothesis and answer Questions 5–10 to help you evaluate your results.

Using a large DNA data set, researchers have identified the progenitor of Hawaiian honeycreepers and have linked their rapid evolution to the geological formation of the four main Hawaiian Islands Water may have covered the Earth's surface for 200 my. Some shield volcanoes, such as the islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, began forming on the ocean floor over a hot spot. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid-ocean ridges—large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. Be sure to complete the graph on page 4 of the lab report! According to the theory of continental drift, the world was made up of a single continent through most of geologic time.That continent eventually separated and drifted apart, forming into the seven continents we have today.

Each shield volcano grows slowly with repeated eruptions until it reaches the surface of the water to form an island (Fig. As the Pacific Plate moves, newer islands form. 7.25). If we can assume that such a hot spot is stationary, then we can calculate the absolute velocity of the Pacific Plate as it has moved over the hot spot. LeSSON 2 Patterns in the Hawaiian Islands Lesson at a Glance The lesson begins with information about the age, size and location of each of the islands found in the Hawaiian archipelago. 1. Rains may have lasted for 25 my. One graph is already done for you as an example.

Outgassing, formed hot clouds. 6. What is a hypothesis that explains how the Hawaiian island chain formed? Some geologists have suggested that a 'hot spot' in the mantle, which remains stationary as the Pacific Plate moves over it, explains the existence of the island chain. The island chain appears to have formed as the Pacific plate moved over a Hot Spot, an area in the Earth's mantle where hot material from the Earth's interior is moving upward. The Pacific plate is moving over a hot spot which causes the formation of volcanoes.