Why The Big Island Is The ‘Youngest’ Island: The Big Island is somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 years old – the youngest of any of the Hawaiian Islands. Pay a visit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and you can see fresh lava, days, hours and even minutes old. The Big Island is the newest of all the Hawaiian Islands due to a geologic ‘hot spot’ combined with tectonic plate movement. As the tectonic plates moves, it slides over a fixed ‘geologic hot spot.’ This hot spot erupts into a volcano as the tectonic plate moves northwest. The hot spot remains stationary, while the Pacific plate moves in a northwesterly direction at a rate of approximately 2 to 4 inches per year.
Read more, How The Hawaii Volcanic ‘Hot Spot’ Created The Hawaiian Islands for a detailed explanation of how the ‘Hot Spot’ works.
Why The Big Island Is The ‘Oldest’ Island: The Big Island is a very popular island for retirees. The median age for the State of Hawaii was 37.8 years. The county with the highest median age was Hawaii County with 41.3 years, followed by Kauai County with 41.2 years and then Maui County with 39.9 years. Honolulu County had the lowest median age with 36.6 years. This is due to low (comparatively) housing costs.
Big Island Volcanoes: Of the Big Island’s five volcanoes, Kohala and Mauna Kea are considered dormant, last erupting 60,000 and 4,500 years ago, respectively. For Kona area residents, note that Hualalai hasn’t erupted since 1801; Mauna Loa is considered active but has not erupted since 1984. Kilauea has been very active.
Hualalai Eruption Pattern Mimics Hawaiian Islands Pattern: Now compare this Google Earth image of Hualalai
Amazon Products
Read How The Hawaii Volcanic ‘Hot Spot’ Created The Hawaiian Islands for a detailed explanation of how the ‘Hot Spot’ works.
Here is an educational video about the Hawaiian Islands ‘hot spot.’
Volcanoes National Park: Pay a visit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and you can see fresh lava, days, hours and even minutes old.
Read How The Hawaii Volcanic ‘Hot Spot’ Created The Hawaiian Islands for a detailed explanation of how the ‘Hot Spot’ works.
