Emperor seamounts is a chain of seamounts in the Pacific Ocean that are part of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain is a linear chain of volcanoes that stretches for over 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) from the Emperor Seamounts in the northwest to the island of Hawaii in the southeast. The Emperor Seamounts are the oldest volcanoes in the chain, and they are about 80 million years old. The Hawaiian Islands are the youngest volcanoes in the chain, and they are about 5 million years old.
The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain is thought to have formed as the Pacific Plate moved over a hotspot in the Earth's mantle. The hotspot is a weak spot in the Earth's crust where magma rises to the surface. As the Pacific Plate moved over the hotspot, it created a chain of volcanoes. The volcanoes that formed the Emperor Seamounts are now extinct, but the volcanoes that formed the Hawaiian Islands are still active.
