Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain

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 that stretches over 3,600 miles from the Aleutian Trench in the far northwest Pacific to Lo‘ihi seamount southeast of the Island of Hawai‘i. It is considered the largest mountain chain in the world. 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. Recent developments in research however may challenge Wilson's hypothesis.