Field Trip Guidebooks
1 primary work
Book 121
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Field Trip Guidebooks Series, Volume 188/304.
The Hawaiian Islands form the youngest part of a chain of volcanoes that stretches nearly 6000 km across the north Pacific Ocean (Fig. 1). This unique geological feature consists of at least 107 individual volcanoes having a combined volume greater than 1 million km3 (Bargar and Jackson, 1974). The chain is age progressive with still-active volcanoes at the southeast end whereas those at the northwest end have ages of about 75-80 Ma. The volcanoes of the chain were erupted onto the seafloor without regard for the age or structure of the underlying ocean crust. The Hawaiian volcanic ridge is surrounded by a symmetrical depression, the Hawaiian Deep, as much as 0.7 km deeper than the adjacent seafloor. The Hawaiian Deep is in turn surrounded by the broad Hawaiian Arch. Clague and Dalrymple (1987) review the setting and age relations of the volcanoes that comprise the chain.