tectonic plate help!?

Question

which direction does MAUNA LOA'S tectonic plates move in ?

Answer 1

Northwest.

The Pacific Plate is moving over a hot spot which creates all those volcanoes and islands in Hawaii. So the old islands (on the northwest end) are being carried away and are pretty much dormant and new islands (on the southeast end) are being formed.

Link below for good pictures and longer explanations.

Answer 2

NorthWest direction: From: Tilling, 1985, Volcanoes: USGS General Interest Publication
According to the new, generally accepted "plate-tectonics" theory, scientists believe that the Earth's surface is broken into a number of shifting slabs or plates, which average about 50 miles in thickness. These plates move relative to one another above a hotter, deeper, more mobile zone at average rates as great as a few inches per year. Most of the world's active volcanoes are located along or near the boundaries between shifting plates and are called "plate-boundary" volcanoes. However, some active volcanoes are not associated with plate boundaries, and many of these so-called "intra-plate" volcanoes form roughly linear chains in the interior of some oceanic plates. The Hawaiian Islands provide perhaps the best example of an "intra-plate" volcanic chain, developed by the northwest-moving Pacific Plate passing over an inferred "hot spot" that initiates the magma-generation and volcano-formation process. The peripheral areas of the Pacific Ocean Basin, containing the boundaries of several plates are dotted by many active volcanoes that form the so-called "Ring of Fire". The "Ring" provides excellent examples of "plate-boundary" volcanoes, including Mount St. Helens. ...

In the Pacific Northwest, the Juan de Fuca Plate plunges beneath the North American Plate, locally melting at depth; the magma rises to feed and form the Cascade volcanoes.

Answer 3

It moves WEST to EAST. Check out the placement of the other islands... Kauai is the oldest... and there's a 'new' island growing to the EAST of Hawaii.

Answer 4

difficult task. lookup in bing and yahoo. just that could actually help!