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Were all of the lesser Hawaiian islands/atolls as big as the Big Island at one point? Or is the Big Island exceptionally large?
My understanding is that all of the Hawaiian islands were formed as a result of a moving volcanic hotspot (or the crust moving over a stationary hotspot?) with the Big Island being the youngest, most active, and consequently largest of these volcanic islands.
Most of the ancient extinct volcanoes are underwater and some of them exist as tiny atolls or islets.
So my question is were all the volcanoes in this chain at one point as large as the Big Island? Have the Hawaiian islands have sort of been “taking turns“ being the largest by growing and then shrinking? Or is the Big Island an anomaly?
If the Big Island is exceptionally large, why is that?
Do we have any idea what the ancient Hawaiian islands might have looked like? Or how large/extensive they were at their peak?
#science
source
My understanding is that all of the Hawaiian islands were formed as a result of a moving volcanic hotspot (or the crust moving over a stationary hotspot?) with the Big Island being the youngest, most active, and consequently largest of these volcanic islands.
Most of the ancient extinct volcanoes are underwater and some of them exist as tiny atolls or islets.
So my question is were all the volcanoes in this chain at one point as large as the Big Island? Have the Hawaiian islands have sort of been “taking turns“ being the largest by growing and then shrinking? Or is the Big Island an anomaly?
If the Big Island is exceptionally large, why is that?
Do we have any idea what the ancient Hawaiian islands might have looked like? Or how large/extensive they were at their peak?
#science
source
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