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 >
As measured with a seismometer, an earthquake that registers 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times greater than an earthquake that registered 4.0 at the same distance, and thus corresponds to a release of energy 31.6 times that released by the lesser earthquake.