The Hawaiian Islands are at the southeast end of a chain of volcanoes that began to form more than 70 million years ago. Each island is made of one or more volcanoes, which first erupted on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and emerged above sea level only after countless eruptions.

The Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanic activity. The Hawaiian Emperor seamount chain is a well-known example of a large seamount and island chain created by hot-spot volcanism. Each island or submerged seamount in the chain is successively older toward the northwest.

Meiji Seamount, named after Emperor Meiji, the 122nd Emperor of Japan, is the oldest seamount in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, with an estimated age of 82 million years.

The west (left) islands are 65 million years old and the east (right) island is 300,000 years old.

Hawaii has already seen more than 6 inches of sea-level rise in recent decades, and the rate of rise is accelerating, according to state lawmakers. For Hawaii, according to the 2017 report, that will mean a 3-foot rise in sea levels by 2100.

Sea level rise could cost Hawaii up to 40% of its beaches by 2050, study shows. As much as 40% of Hawaii’s beaches could be lost to sea level rise by 2050, a new study predicts. The new study points out that sea level rise is speeding up and estimates seas could rise by nearly 10 inches over the next 30 years.

There are fewer than 5,000 pure native Hawaiians left on earth.

If Hawaii secedes from the United States won’t other states be allowed to also secede? Hawaii does not need to secede from the U.S., since it was never legally part of the U.S. to begin with. Rather, the U.S. needs to de-occupy the Hawaiian Islands, which it has been illegally occupying with no treaty of annexation.