Aloha, and welcome to Hawaii. I'm relaxing here on the Big Island, lemonade in hand, computer on lap, thinking about plate tectonics. Hawaii is the stand-out on our trip viewing plate tectonic boundaries, simply because Hawaii isn't on a boundary. The reason I'm here (besides relaxation) is be because Hawaii was formed by a hotspot, which is related to plate tectonics. A hotspot is a place in the mantle that is significantly hotter than the mantle is normally. As a tectonic plate moves over the hotspot, volcanos are formed by the hot magma moving up through the crust.

A diagram of the Hawaiian hotspot

The Hawaiian hotspot has formed more than 129 volcanos in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain in its period of activity of over 85 million years. The Big Island, or the island of Hawai'i, where I am right now, is the overlap of 5 of those volcanos. Hawaii also has a lot of earthquakes, which are caused by its volcanic activity.

A view from the Big Island

Luckily, I haven't experienced any of these in my stay here. In fact, it has been very peaceful, sunny, and warm. I have been lying on the beach mostly, but I plan to do some exploration later today. But for now, I'm going swimming! Splash! (Okay, I didn't actually type while diving. That was for dramatic effect.)

Thanks for joining me on this scientific journey. I hope to have inspired some of you to love plate tectonics as much as I do.

Photos: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/hotspots.html
             My dad