The Hawaiian Island chain is 3,700 miles long and 70 million years old. In this birds-eye-view of the Pacific Ocean floor you can glimpse the entire chain as it stretches from the "Big Island" of Honolulu [lower right] to the oldest of the emperor sea mounts [upper left].

Each of the islands is formed as the enormous Pacific Plate drifts slowly in a northwesterly direction over a "Hot Spot" in the Earth's mantle. At a hot spot, magma from within the mantle pushes up the earth's crust resulting in the formation of an undersea volcano. Over time the volcano emerges from beneath the sea, and an island is born. As the plate continues it's relentless journey, old islands are carried of the hot spot as new islands are born. The Aleutian Trench is the result of the Pacific Plate subducting, or sinking beneath, the North American and Eurasian Plate.
   
Thanks to Bruce Heezen and Marie Tharpe.

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