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tamtrible t1_j8tr3zz wrote

Reply to comment by CrustalTrudger in Why is the Big Island so much bigger than the other Hawaiian islands? by Mad_Jax77

just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly... would this be a decent Eli5 version of your 3 factors?...

  1. The hotspot is higher than the ocean floor around it, so the island right on the hot spot is starting from a higher sea floor than the others
  2. The volcano has been particularly volcano-y for the last couple of million years, so it's making bigger islands now than it has in the past
  3. Volcanic islands get smaller over time if they're not actively volcano-ing, so the island that has the volcano right now is bigger than the ones that haven't had it for a while.

Is that about right?

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