Evolution of Hawaiian volcanoes went through the rejuvenated stage, while its younger neighbors, East Molokai and West Maui, have evidently done so. It is currently unknown what stage of development the submerged volcano of Penguin Bank is in. In recent years research at other seamounts, for instance Jasper Seamount, has confirmed that the Hawaiian model applies to other seamounts as well. Evolution of Hawaiian volcanoes The fifteen volcanoes that make up the eight principal islands of Hawaii are the youngest in a chain of more than 129 volcanoes that stretch across the North Pacific Ocean, called the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Hawaii's volcanoes rise an
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of Cancer, making them the only islands in Hawaii that lie outside the tropics. The Northwestern or Leeward Hawaiian Islands include: The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were formed, approximately 7 to 30 million years ago, as shield volcanoes over the same volcanic hotspot that formed the Emperor Seamounts to the north and the Main Hawaiian Islands to the south. As the Pacific Plate moved north and later northwest over the hot spot, volcanic eruptions built up islands in a linear chain. The isolated land masses gradually eroded and subsided, evolving from high islands in the south, much like the Main Islands