It will almost certainly take several tens of thousands of years, if the growth rate for L'ihi is comparable to that of other Hawaiian volcanoes (about 0.1 foot per year averaged over geologic time).
A: The Richter scale is used to quantitatively measure the magnitude of an earthquake. This tool was devised by the seismologist Charles F. Richter in 1935. Full Answer >
Earthquakes today are more commonly measured by moment magnitude, a scale based on the amount of seismic energy released by the quake. In the magnitude scale, each increase of one whole number translates to 32 times more energy. Sources: CNN, US geological survey, California Institute of Technology (Caltech)