Pūhāhonu: Earth's biggest and hottest shield volcano

New bathymetric and gravity mapping, refined volume calculations and petrologic analyses show that the Hawaiian volcano Pūhāhonu is the largest and hottest shield volcano on Earth. This ∼12.5-14.1 Ma volcano in the northwest Hawaiian Ridge (NWHR) is twice the size of Mauna Loa volcano (148 ± 29 vs. 74.0×103km3), which was assumed to be not only the largest Hawaiian volcano but also the largest known shield volcano. We considered four testable...