Outline how the formation of the Hawai'ian Islands contributed to the evidence of plate tectonics. What will be an ideal response?


Hot spots are fixed areas where mantle rises to the surface. A volcano can form over the hot
spot, but because the plate is moving, the volcano is carried away from its source of magma
after a few million years and becomes inactive. It is replaced at the hot spot by a new volcano
a short distance away. A chain of volcanoes and volcanic islands forms as the oceanic plate
moves over the stationary mantle plume and hotspot. The age of the islands increases the
further removed from the hotspot. New islands continue to form over the hotspot. The
Hawai'ian Islands are the most famous of these “assembly-line” chains, which extends from
the old eroded volcanoes of the Emperor Seamounts to the still-growing island of Hawai’i.
The abrupt bend in the chain was caused by a change in the direction of movement of the
Pacific Plate, from largely northward to more westward, about 40 million years ago. The next
Hawai’ian Island that will come into being—already named Loihi—is building on the oceanfloor at the southeastern end of the chain. Now about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) beneath the
surface, Loihi will break the surface about 30,000 years from now.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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Which of the following is a major advantage of nuclear fission-based power plants?

A. The amount of energy per kilogram of fuel is greater than any other fuel source. B. The power plants are complex, and there are many safety requirements to prevent contamination of the environment. C. The reactors can be used to produce their own fuel. D. The by-products of the fission process are radioactive and have very long half-lives. E. both A and C

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

A supercooled cloud droplet is

a. an ice crystal surrounded by air warmer than 0°C (32°F). b. a liquid droplet that is cooler than the air around it. c. a liquid droplets observed at temperatures below 0°C (32°F). d. a water droplet that has had all its latent heat removed. e. another term for ice crystal.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

Which of the following forms of mass wasting involves the slow, down slope movement of individual soil and rock particles?

A. fall B. flow C. creep D. slump E. slide

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

Jet streams are found within the ____

A) thermosphere B) tropopause C) stratopause D) exosphere

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences