Hawaii hotspot
Hawaiian volcanoes are characterized by frequent rift eruptions, their large size (thousands of cubic kilometers in volume), and their rough, decentralized shape. Rift zones are a prominent feature on these volcanoes, and account for their seemingly random volcanic structure. The tallest mountain in the Hawaii chain, Mauna Kea, rises above mean sea level. Measured from its base on the seafloor, it is the world's tallest mountain, at ; Mount Everest rises above sea level. Hawaii is surrounded by a myriad of seamounts; however, they were found to be unconnected to the hotspot and its volcanism. Kīlauea has erupted continuously since 1983 through Puʻu ʻŌʻō, a minor volcanic cone, which has become an attraction for volcanologists and tourists alike.
List of volcanoes in the Hawaiian – Emperor seamount chain
The Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain is a series of volcanoes and seamounts extending across the Pacific Ocean. The chain has been produced by the movement of the ocean crust over the Hawaii hotspot, an upwelling of hot rock from the Earth's mantle. As the oceanic crust moves the volcanoes farther away from their source of magma, their eruptions become less frequent and less powerful until they eventually cease to erupt altogether. At that point, erosion of the volcano and subsidence of the seafloor cause the volcano to gradually diminish. As the volcano sinks and erodes, it first becomes an atoll island and then an atoll. Further subsidence causes the volcano to sink below the sea surface, becoming a seamount and/or a guyot. This list documents the most significant volcanoes in the chain, ordered by distance from the hotspot; however, there are many others that have yet to be properly studied.