Waimea Canyon, Kauai
The Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" has been thrilling visitors for years, because of the colors which seem to change throughout the day. As the sun's angle changes, the beautiful rust color caused by the iron in the volcanic basaltic rock, and the contrasting colors of the vegetation will offer views such as this. The Waimea River flows at the bottom of this 3000 foot deep gorge. The river acts as an erosional force, downcutting deeper into the ancient lava flows with the passage of time. With the help of chemical weathering processes, deep canyons and gullies have been carved into the mountains to create the magnificent sculptured landscapes of Kauai.
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Devastation Trail
Devastation Trail is a hiking trail that goes through an area that was once a forest filled with trees and greenery. It was destroyed in the 1959 eruption at Kilauea Iki Crater and is still recovering. It passes through an area once totally covered by more than 6 feet of lava. When walking on the trail, you can see the transition from barren area filled with volcanic material, to a lush, dense forest full of life. The trail runs from a point off Crater Rim Drive to Kilauea Iki Crater. Today life has returned to parts of the trail as trees and shrubs fight their way up through the flow. This photo reminded me of a landscape that might cost hundreds of dollars to reproduce in suburbia USA: the driftwood, shrubs, black volcanic cinders and pink wildflowers, appear to be laid out with a detailed plan in mind. Hardly seems like a random act of nature. In fact, in tropical climates, weathering of rock takes place quickly and one can see the formation of thin soil and the beginnings of new plant life, often within only one year after a lava flow's destructive forces change the earth's surface.
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Sulfur Banks, Big Island
Volcanoes National Park is located on the Big Island of the Hawaiian
Island chain in the Pacific Ocean. The Big Island boasts the highest peaks
in the Pacific and a land mass more than twice as big as the other Hawaiian
islands combined. At an age of 800,000 years, this youngest Hawaiian island
has been formed by lava flows from five distinct and immense volcanoes.
Two of these volcanoes remain active today, Kilauea and Mauna Loa.
On the Big Island even volcanoes seem to embody a sort of mellow volcanic
aloha. Although they are among the world's most active volcanoes, they
are relatively gentle and approachable (but only in designated areas!!).
Radiant fountains, lava lakes and luminous streams characterize Big Island
eruptions. With low lava gas contents, Hawaiian volcanoes are safer and
more accessible than others. (A huge buildup of gases precipitated the
catastrophic explosion of Mount St. Helens in 1980.)Since 1983, relentless
flows from fissures in Kilauea have consumed villages and beaches, and
extended Big Island bluffs further into the indigo sea.
The sulfur banks, one of the many stops along Chain Of Craters Road is
proof positive of the presence of magma beneath one's feet in the Park.
The smell of sulfur (rotten eggs) permeates the air and the rocks are
stained yellow with mineral deposits that settle out of the venting steam.
For still more information, please visit:
http://www.hshawaii.com/vacplanner/feature/bi/volcanoes.html
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View From Kauai Marriott Hotel
Kauai is the oldest Hawaiian island. Since Kauai is also the wettest island, weathering and erosional processes have carved deep gullies and sharp peaks into its land surfaces, making Kauai the beautiful and lush island of all 8 major islands in the chain. Kauai was formed by one enormous shield volcano, Wai'ale'ale, with a summit of 5,170 feet. Kauai is approximately 25 miles long, 33 miles across and has an area of 555 square miles. Its birth took place approximately 5 to 6 million years ago when, as present-day Kauai sat over the "hot spot" in the Pacific Ocean floor, the first basaltic rocks surfaced above sea level. Ongoing basaltic flows added to the size and elevation of the island until about 3.9 million years ago. At that point, Kauai moved away from the mantle "hot spot" and eruptions ceased. Now, only erosional processes are active on the island.
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Spouting Horn, in the Poipu Area of Kauai
Doesn't this look like a geyser? But, a geyser is caused when superheated water, under pressure, erupts forcibly through a hole in Earth's crust and that is NOT what is happening here. The spectacular effect is created by a blowhole that shoots water into the air from an old lava tube. The phenomenon seems to occur with every 7th wave, which is noticeably larger than the others. The intensity of the plume of water that will shoot into the air is dependent upon the intensity of the wave that reaches the shore.
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Iao Needle, Maui
Iao Needle is a spectacular erosional feature within a natural amphitheater of basalt on the West Maui Volcano. The Needle is a knob, standing on the crest of a winding ridge, a divide between two streams. The rocks within the Needle are thin, Wailuku basalt flows with many dikes cutting through them. Iao Needle is part of Iao Valley State Park, which lies within the eroded caldera of West Maui.
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Flying Into Hilo Airport, Big Island
Hilo, located on an ocean bay (see photo), is situated where younger lava flows from Mauna Loa meet older flows from Mauna Kea. The Wailuku River, which crosses the northern part of Hilo, follows the approximate contact point of the two lava flows. Part of the city stands on lava flows erupted from Mauna Loa in 1881 and 1882. However, most of Hilo lies on soils weathered from flows that took place only 14,000 to 24,000 years ago.
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Lanai from Maui
Lanai (the fourth youngest island in the Hawaiian chain) was formed by
a single shield volcano creating a volcanic basaltic land mass of rolling
tablelands and steep, eroded gorges, carved by running water and chemical
weathering processes. Iron in the basalt rock rusts with time to create
red lava cliffs. Mesquite bushes yield to giant stands of towering Cook
pines - and green mountains at higher elevations.
For a panoramic view of the whole island, as well as neighboring Maui,
Oahu, Molokai, Kahoolawe and the Big Island, one only has to reach the
peak of Lanaihale, Lanai's highest point at 3,370 feet.
Lanai is 18 miles long and 13 miles wide. It is eight miles to the west
of Maui Island and nine miles south of Molokai Island. Less than 3,000
native Hawaiians live here. Lanai remains a pristine example of a true
tropical paradise.
In 1922, James Dole bought Lanai and turned it into the world's largest
pineapple plantation. "Dole Pineapples" once supplied 75% of
the world's pineapples. Presently, Castle & Cooke Inc. are now the corporate
successors and less than 100 acres of the island are still used for growing
the fruit.
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Maui's Windward Volcanic Mountains
As one drives around Maui's volcanoes the stark contrasts between lush vegetation on one side of the mountain versus drier conditions on the other, cannot be overlooked. Where moist wind, coming from the ocean, reaches mountains, then rises and cools, generous amounts of precipitation occur, favoring growth of vegetation. By the time the air mass reaches the top of the mountain, all moisture has condensed and been removed from the air mass, so the descending air on the opposite side of the mountain (the leeward side) is dry. Also, the air mass warms as it descends, further favoring a landscape devoid of lush greenery.
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Cinder Cones Inside Haleakala's Crater, Maui
Haleakala Crater - The Geologic Story Haleakala Crater is now
a cool, cone-studded reminder of a once-active volcano. Streaks of red,
yellow, gray and black trace the courses of recent and ancient lave, ash,
and cinder flows. The volcanic rocks slowly break down as natural forces
reduce them to minute particles which are swept away by wind, heavy rain,
and intermittent streams.
Modern geology indicates that the Hawaiian Islands are situated near the
middle of the "Pacific Plate," one of a dozen thin, rigid structures covering
our planet like the cracked shell of an egg. Though adjoining each other,
these plates are in constant motion, the Pacific Plate moving northward
several centimeters per year. Scattered around the world are many weak
areas in the earth's crust where magma slowly wells upward to the surface
as a "plume." Here volcanoes and volcanic islands, such as Maui, are born.
This constant northwestward movement of the Pacific Plate over a local
volcanic "hot spot," or plume, has produced a series of islands, one after
another in assembly line fashion. The result is a chain of volcanic islands
stretching from the island of Hawaii along a southeast-northwest line
for 2,500 miles (4,050 kilometers) toward Japan.
Maui, one of the younger islands in this chain, began as two separate
volcanoes on the ocean floor; time and again, eon after eon, they erupted,
and thin new sheets of lava spread upon the old, building and building,
until the volcano heads emerge from the sea. Lave, wind-blown ash, and
alluvium eventually joined the two by an isthmus or valley, forming Maui,
"The Valley Isle." Finally, Haleakala, the larger eastern volcano, reached
its greatest height, 12,000 feet (3,600 meters) above the ocean- some
30,000 feet (9,100 meters) from its base on the ocean floor. Presently,
its summit is approximately 10.023 feet above sea level, one-third above
earth's atmosphere.
For a time, volcanic activity ceased, and erosion dominated. The great
mountain was high enough to trap the moisture-laden northeast tradewinds.
Rain fell and streams began to cut channels down its slopes. Two such
streams eroding their way headward created large amphitheater-like depressions
near the summit. Ultimately these two valleys met, creating a long erosional
"crater." At the same time a series of ice age submergences and emergences
of the shoreline occurred; the final submergence formed the four islands
of Lanai, Molokai, Kahoolawe, and Maui.
When volcanic activity resumed near the summit, lava poured down the stream
valleys, nearly filling them. More recently, cinders, ash, volcanic
bombs, and spatter were blown from numerous young vents in the "crater"
forming multicolored symmetrical cones as high as 600 feet (180 meters).
Thus this ware-carved basin became partially filled with lava and cinder
cones, and it came to resemble a true volcanic crater. (See cinder cones
in photo).
Several hundred years have passed since the last volcanic activity occurred
within the crater. This stillness in Maui is attributed by modern geology
to the constant northwestward movement of the Pacific Plate. As the oldest
islands on the northwest end of the chain have moved farther away from
the plume-source of new lava-they have ceased to grow; the ravages of
wind and rain and time have thus been able to reduce them to sandbars
and atolls. Maui has shifted a few kilometers from the plume's influence,
and Haleakala, too, is destined to become extinct.
Though dormant now, about 1790, which is quite recent in geologic time,
two minor flows at lower elevations along the southwest rift zone of Haleakala
reached the sea and altered the southwest coastline of Maui. Today earthquake
records indicate that internal adjustments are still taking place in the
earth's crust, but at present, no volcanic activity of any form is visible
in the crater nor at any other place on the island of Maui. Perhaps Haleakala
could erupt again; we just don't know.
Excerpt from: http://www.haleakala.national-park.com/info.htm
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Text on this page accompanies the following web page: Miscellaneous Photos of Hawaii.
For more information on the geology of the Hawaiian Islands, please
visit:
Hawaii Center for Volcanology's site:
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/hcv.html
OR
U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaii Volcano Observatory's Volcano Watch
site at:
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch
and
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/current_issue.html
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