Where did Hawaii come from?

Richie DiPaolo

One day on a sunny evening in Hawaii three children were playing kickball outside. Tony, Tom and Zoey were playing kickball like they did everyday, Tony scored a homerun. Tom was so mad he burst out in ferociousness and stomped his foot on the ground. Boom, boom, boom! “What was that, they said?” I think it’s Mount Hawaii!” Zoey said. Tom ask “what is that?”

Zoey explained…“all the Hawaiian islands were formed from volcanoes.” What?! said Tom “that’s not true…is it Tony?” “I don’t know” said Tony “but I know who would know”, “who?” said Tom “Mrs. Finkelstien!” “Yeah, you’re right lets ask in science class tomorrow!” So the three of them agreed to ask Mrs. Finkelstien tomorrow in science class if Hawaii was really an old erupted volcano.

The next morning the bus came to pick up the kids for school and they couldn’t wait to ask their teacher about Hawaii and volcanoes.

“Mrs. Finkelstien”, “yes Zoey”. “Could you please tell the class that Hawaii is an old volcano?” “Well it’s a little more complicated than that …let me explain…”

The Earth is made up of 3 main layers: core, mantle, & crust. The crust is where we live and there are two kinds of crust

The continental crust and the oceanic crust

“Okay…so I get it, we live on the outside of the earth…but what does that have to do with Hawaii?” “I’m getting to that Tony” said Mrs. Finkelstien. The Earth's surface is covered by a series of crustal plates. This is a theory known as Plate Tectonics. The entire earth has 12 plates that make up the entire crust. When the plates move and bump into each other or separate it changes the crust. If the crust changes the outside of the earth changes, this is called tectonic, meaning the deformation of the crust because the plates moved. Look at this map, see how it looks like some of the continents used to fit together, and now it looks like a broken puzzle.

“Oh yeah the earth does kinda look like a broken puzzle, so Hawaii is just a broken piece of a puzzle?” asked Zoey. “Not exactly” said Mrs. Finkelstien. You see the floor of the ocean constantly moves. This is happens because in the earth’s mantle it has radioactivity that creates heat and the heat causes currents that force the plates to move.

“Wait, what is the plate made of?” “Plates are made of lithosphere” said Mrs. Finkelstien “and the lithosphere is the crust and the upper mantle. Mrs. Finkelstien went on to explain. “Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere. The lithosphere rides on the fluid-like asthenosphere.”

One plate meets another along a plate boundary, and plate boundaries can cause events like earthquakes, the creation of mountains, volcanoes and oceanic trenches. The majority of the world's active volcanoes occur along plate boundaries. Mrs. Finkelstien showed the class the map of the world plates.

Mrs. Finkelstien then went on to explain that there are three types of plate boundaries: divergent boundaries happen when two plates slide apart from each other, transform boundaries happen when plates slide past each other and convergent boundaries happen when two plates slide towards each other forming either a subduction zone (if one plate moves underneath the other) or a continental collision (if the two plates contain continental crust). Mrs. Finkelstein showed the class an example of each type of boundary.

Divergent Boundaries

Where plates slide apart from each other

At divergent boundaries, two plates move apart from each other and the space that this creates is filled with new crustal material from magma that forms below.

Where plates slide past each otherTransform Boundaries

Mrs. Finkelstien explained that when two plates slide past each other they bump each other and that causes friction. This friction builds up in both plates and when it gets very high, energy caused by the friction is released. The energy released by the strain is the cause of earthquakes. “Cool!” said Tony Well I’m glad you find science class to be fun said Mrs. Finkelstein, but I’m not done yet…

There are three styles of convergent plate boundaries:– Continent-continent collision- Where two continental plates meet the

plates compress neither plate overtaking the other and eventually push up and form mountains.

– Ocean-ocean collision- When two plates collide, one goes under the other this is called subduction. The result is a deep trench in the ocean and an under water volcano. Lava from the volcano piles up until it rises above the sea to form an island volcano.

– Continent-oceanic crust collision- Where two continental plates collide. The oceanic plate goes under the continental plate. The oceanic plate sinks and breaks into pieces. The small pieces later rise to the top and cause earthquakes. The continental plate pushes up and forms mountains.

Convergent Boundaries

Forms mountains

Continent-Continent Collision

Ocean-Ocean Plate Collision

Continent-Oceanic Crust Collision

Mrs. Finkelstien then went on to explain that the islands of Hawaii are unique because they were formed by a ‘hot spot’. A 'hot spot' is an area in the middle of a crustal plate where volcanism occurs. The magma breaks through the crustal plate from the under sea volcano and up to the surface of the ocean and become islands. This happens over millions of years.

Hawaii is located in what scientists call the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’. The Pacific Ring of Fire is where large number of volcanic eruptions occur.

Hotspot VolcanoesHawaiian Islands

Pacific Ring of Fire

Mrs. Finkelstien then showed the class a picture of the lava poring onto the surface that will cool and form a hard surface that you can walk on.

“So Hawaii was a volcano?” asked Zoey. “Well you see Zoey, the Hawaiian Islands sit on the Hawaiian Hotspot. The hotspot does not move. The Pacific Plate does. The plate carries the islands. As each island was formed it was carried away from the hotspot and another formed in its place. So, to answer your question, yes Hawaii was formed by a volcanoes.”

The class agreed that they lived on the coolest place on earth, the Hawaiian Hotspot!