The Hawaiian Islands were formed by:

• A. Earthquakes
• B. Volcanoes
• C. Glaciers
• D. Rivers

Answer: (B)

Volcanoes building land is what formed the Hawaiian Islands. A hotspot in the mantle melts rock to magma, and eruptions pour lava that piles up above the ocean, creating shield volcanes. Over long periods, repeated lava flows and ash layers build up land that rises above sea level to become islands. As the Pacific Plate slowly moves over this hotspot, new volcanic eruptions create newer islands farther along the chain while older ones erode. Earthquakes are a result of moving plates but don’t create land; glaciers would require cold climates and don’t form these islands; rivers shape coastlines and valleys but don’t generate large ocean islands. So the chain of Hawaiian Islands comes from volcanic activity building up land from the sea.