The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain is composed of the Hawaiian Ridge and the Emperor Seamounts, a vast underwater mountain region beneath the northern Pacific Ocean created by a hotspot of volcanic activity that was left stationary as the Pacific tectonic plate drifted in a northeasterly direction.
The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain is composed of the Hawaiian Ridge and the Emperor Seamounts, a vast underwater mountain region beneath the northern Pacific Ocean. In 1963, geologist Tuzo Wilson hypothesized the origins of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain explaining that they were created by a hotspot of volcanic activity that was left stationary as the Pacific tectonic plate drifted in a northeasterly direction.