Are the hawaiian islands all the same age?
The Hawaiian islands are not of the same age. The largest island of Hawaii is still being formed by continuing lava eruptions and a new mound of lava is building below the surface that may become the next island in the next few thousand years. If you look at a map of the Pacific as you move west through the islands they are older and less active with eruptions. Midway off to the west north west is part of the chain as are the Emporer seamounts off the coast of Russia and Japan. Most geologists believe that there is a hot spot in the earths mantle that breaks though the thin ocean crust as it slides over top. These islands and seamounts are all remnants from when that section of the Pacific Plate went over the hotspot.
