hawaii_001

    Image 1 Caption: A satellite image in true color of the Hawaiian Islands from the Terra satellite (1999--).

    The Big Island is obvious. Oahu (with Honolulu with Pearl Harbor) is the 3rd island from the left.

    Hawaii hotspot cross section diagram Image 2 Caption: "A diagram showing the Hawaii hotspot and the inferred underlying mantle plume in cross section." (Slightly edited.)

    The Hawaii hotspot is ∼ 500 km wide (see Wikipedia: Hawaii hotspot: Characteristics), and so extends well beyond the Big Island (size scale 60 km) which is where most of the active volcanism occurs.

    The tallest Hawaiian volcano is Mauna Kea which is considered dormant, but it will probably erupt again (see Wikipedia: Mauna Kea: Future activity). Mauna Kea is in fact one of the world's best observing sites for astronomy (probably the best in the Northern Hemisphere) and is the location for the Mauna Kea Observatories.

    See Hawaii hotspot keywords below/at link:

      Hawaii hotspot keywords (i.e., Hawaii hotspot keywords): asthenosphere, Big Island (formally Hawaii Island), Hawaii, Hawaii hotspot, Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, hotspot, Kauai, Kilauea, List of Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain volcanoes, lithosphere, mantle plume, Maui, Mauna Kea, Mauna Kea Observatories, Mauna Loa, Molokai, Niihau, Oahu, Pacific Ocean, Pacific plate, seamount, volcanism, volcano, etc.

    See Volcano videos below (local link / general link: volcano_videos.html):

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    Images:
    1. Credit/Permission: NASA, NASA: Visible Earth, 2003 / Public domain.
      Download site: NASA: Visible Earth.
      Image link: Itself.
    2. Credit/Permission: United States Geological Survey (USGS), Joel E. Robinson, USGS, 2006 (uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by User:Avenue, 2012) / Public domain.
      Image link: Wikimedia Commons: File:Hawaii hotspot cross-sectional diagram.jpg.
    Local file: local link: hawaii_hotspot.html.
    File: Earth geology file: hawaii_hotspot.html.