The Hawaiian island of Oahu is eroding from within, according to a new study.

Researchers from Brigham Young University in Utah published a report on Dec. 19 that details the island's eventual change from a mountainous tropical paradise into a flattened low-lying seamount.

Both the Koolau and Waianae mountains are eroding due to slow but steady trickling of groundwater inside them.

"We tried to figure out how fast the island is going away and what the influence of climate is on that rate," Brigham Young University geologist Steve Nelson stated in a news release. "More material is dissolving from those islands than what is being carried off through erosion."

The research team led by Nelson spent around two months studying the mountains of Oahu and the water streams. The university researchers combined their collected data with water level reports from the U.S. Geological Survey and discovered how much mass was rinsed away annually.

The study found that the groundwater carried between three and 12 times as much dissolved solids from the mountains compared to the surface water from the streams, according to LiveScience.

The study suggests that Oahu will one day look like the low-lying island Midway, but it will take around 1.5 million years for the mountains to flatten to that level.

"All of the Hawaiian Islands are made of just one kind of rock," Nelson added. "The weathering rates are variable, too, because rainfall is so variable, so it's a great natural laboratory."

The report did not factor in how rising sea levels will eventually impact the island as it slowly flattens. However, the researchers said that the island is being pushed upward by plate tectonics within the earth that will raise the overall elevation, according to reporting from International Science Times.