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 >
Definition. Quantitative measure of earthquake-strength (magnitude) that indicates the seismic energy released by an earthquake at its epicenter (measured from a distance of 100 miles) on a 1 to 10 scale. It is a logarithmic scale: an increase of 1.0 in measurement corresponds to an increase of 10 times in the magnitude. The most powerful earthquakes recorded so far had a magnitude of 8.6, and occurred in 1920 in the Gansu province of China. Developed in 1935 by the US seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900-1985) of the California Institute of technology. Earthquake-intensity is measured on the Mercalli scale.