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The Hawian island chain was created by a "hotspot" in the Earth's mantle. This in turn is thought to be caused by a mantle plume. This is an up welling of very hot material from deep within the mantle (possibly even the core mantle boundary).

The mantle plume stays in the same place, however the lithospheric plates are moving above it. So the mantle plume causes volcanism to occur at the spot on the surface directly above it forming a volcano, however as that volcano is dragged away by the movement of the lithospheric plate it is no longer over the mantle hot spot and loses it's supply of magma and becomes extinct. Meanwhile a new volcano will form in the lithosphere that is currently over the hotspot.

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14y ago

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