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The islands of Hawaii are the tops of gigantic volcanos that have formed by eruptions over millions of years. The reason for these volcanos in this area is because of a hotspot. A hotspot is basically an area in the mantle where heat rises and then causes the rock to melt in the crust which deposits lava and forms volcanoes. The Hawaiian ridge and The Emperor Seamount Chain is made up of over 80 once active volcanoes, the seamounts that are no longer visible above water have been eroded over millions of years causing them to decrease in size. The length of the Hawaiian Ridge and the Emperor Seamount chain put together is about 6000 kilometers. The northernmost point of the Emperor Seamount Chain is located almost at The Aleutian Trench of Alaska while the southernmost point on the Hawaiian ridge is at the Big Island of Hawaii which contains the only still active volcano in the entire chain. The plate tectonics over the years has caused these chains to form because of the entire pacific plate drifting upwards then slightly up and to the left.