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 >
Earthquakes 4.5 or higher on the Richter scale can be measured by tools all over the world. The scale is logarithmic, with a base of 10. The amplitude of an earthquake that scores 3.0 is about 10 times the amplitude of one that scores 2.0. The energy that is released increases by a factor of about 32.