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| Image of Maui by http://surf.firesurf.com/images/map_maui.gif |
The West Maui Mountains and the Haleakala Crater are the two volcanoes. Each volcano on Maui is built of dark, iron-rich/quartz-poor rocks, which poured out of thousands of vents of low viscosity lava, over a period of years. Maui is a "volcanic doublet", formed from the two volcanoes overlapping each other creating an isthmus to connect the two volcanoes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maui#Geology_and_topography).
The West Maui Mountains known to the Hawaiians as "Maui Komohana" are located on the "head" shape of Maui. The West Maui Mountain is a shield volcano. It accounts for a quarter of the western part of Maui (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Maui_Mountains) . Shield volcanoes are the least dangerous volcanoes because of their low viscosity lava flows, meaning trapped gases escape. Eruptions happen all over shield volcanoes (Dr. Allen, 2012). The West Maui Mountains are older than the other shield volcano Haleakala and it's highest peak of the mountain is at Pu`u Kukui at 5,788 feet (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/maui/west-maui-mountains-and-coast-maui.html).
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| Image of West Maui Mountains by http://www.nokaoiadventures.com/Workparts/WestMauiCircle/600WM1Breathtaking%20West%20Maui%20Mountains.jpg
Haleakala, Maui's other shield volcano accounts for 75% of Maui. Haleakala, meaning "house of the sun" was believed by the Hawaiians to be the home to the grandmother of the demigod Maui. It got the name because the grandmother of Maui helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky to lengthen the day. The tallest peak on Haleakala is Pu`u `Ula`ula (Red Hill) at 10,023 feet making it one of the worlds tallest "mountains" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haleakal%C4%81). Haleakala is a crater and is still active. However, scientist believe that it's crater was created when the headwalls of two large erosional valleys merged at the summit of the volcano. It was discovered that the most recent eruption was in the 17th century. According to the USGS Volcano Warning Scheme of the United States as of June 2011, the Volcanic-Alert level was "normal" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haleakal%C4%81).
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I absolutely love Maui. I went there when I was twelve because my nina lived there and she took us all around Maui to see some special places. You did really good at explaining how Maui was formed in great detail. When I was there we went to the black beach and that was really cool to see a beach with only black sand. Anyway your blog is really good in detailing everything out.
ReplyDeleteHey Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI thought your blog was informative and detailed. The only criticism for content I had was that in the "How Maui was created" section, it did not mention any information about the hot spot theory, that the Hawaii islands were formed from a hot spot located in the middle of the Pacific plate where magma pushes up through the center of the crust instead of at a plate boundary. I know that Maui has moved off the hot spot but I think it is important to mention the hot spot because that explains what fueled the two volcanoes mentioned in the blog. (West Maui Mountains and Haleakala Crater.) I am excited to learn more about Hawaii and its landform marvels throughout the semester.