Volcanoes in the sea. The geology of Hawaii / Вулканы в море. Геология Гавайев

Across the face of the central Pacific Ocean, 3,000 kilometers from the nearest continent and 800 kilometers from any other land, lies the row of islands known as the Hawaiian Archipelago. From Kure Island at the northwest, the archipelago forms a southeast-trending line of islands 2,400 kilometers long (fig. 1.1). Each island is the summit of a great mountain rising from the floor of the ocean. The islands in the northwestern part of the chain are low, barely projecting above sea level, but even the mountains beneath these can hardly be considered puny, for they rise some 5,000 meters above their bases. Those forming the southeastern part of the chain are greater yet. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, two of the five mountains that make up the southernmost island, Hawaii, stand more than 9,000 meters above the adjacent ocean floor, and rise higher above their bases than any other mountain on earth. <...>