VOLCANO BECOME AN ISLAND !!!

DIAMOND HEAD CRATER

The Hawaiian Islands were formed as the Pacific Plate moved westward over a geologic hot spot. The most populous Hawaiian Island, Oahu, is dominated by two large shield volcanoes that range in age from two to four million years old. However, a fair number of smaller and much younger volcanic craters are also present on Oahu, such as Diamond Head Crater pictured above. These younger eruptions were also much smaller in lava output, and much more explosive in nature than the older shield lavas. The younger volcanic craters are all less than 500,000 years old. They formed after Oahu had moved well off the hot spot and the main shield volcanoes had gone dormant for at least two million years.