Final answer:
Earthquakes in Hawaii are predominantly related to c. hotspot activity that has produced the Hawaiian island chain through volcanic eruptions, unlike seismic events at plate boundaries such as subduction zones, which follow a specific pattern of increasing depth from the coast to inland.
Step-by-step explanation:
Earthquakes in Hawaii are mostly related to c) Hotspot activity. The Hawaiian island chain is the result of volcanic eruptions over a hotspot in the Earth's mantle. As the Pacific Plate moved across this stationary hotspot, the heat and magma rising from the Earth's interior created the islands through successive volcanic eruptions.
Unlike other regions where earthquake activity is generally associated with plate boundaries such as subduction zones, transform faults, or continental collision, Hawaii's seismicity is intrinsically linked to the volcanic and hotspot activity that formed the islands.
Typically at subduction zones, a pattern in earthquake depth can be observed. The depth of these earthquakes increases from the coast to inland, reflecting the angle of subduction where the oceanic plate descends beneath the continental plate. However, the earthquakes in Hawaii, which align with the creation of the Hawaiian island chain, show a different pattern, as they are not associated with subduction but instead with the hotspot's volcanic processes.