After living on Maui for over 18 years, I had no idea all of the cool physical geography it possessed, from its tropical weather and climate, to its many different soil types, and how Maui all started. To refresh your memory and mine, I will give a brief summary of the cool features Maui has. First of all, Maui was first created by two massive volcanoes which rose above a mile over the ocean's surface and created enough lava to fill the valley between the volcanoes. Maui is a "volcanic doublet", formed from the two volcanoes overlapping each other creating an isthmus to connect the two volcanoes. Maui's Haleakala Crater is the world's largest crater. Maui, created from volcanoes, Maui's main type of soil is Andisol which is volcanic ash soils. Volcanic Soils are formed from the volcanic ash and cinder deposits. While most of the world's volcanic soils are not highly weathered, there are exceptions on Maui. The beautiful features of Maui are due to the weathering and volcanism.
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| 7 pools of Oheo Maui courtesy of http://www.citypictures.org/data/media/225/7_Pools_of_Oheo_Maui_Hawaii.jpg |
Maui 10 years from now
Maui's physical geography shouldn't change too much. However, Maui's biogeography may change; the island of Maui's population will increase. They are building a ton of houses and cutting down Maui's natural environment and ruining its beauty. The one major thing that could happen in ten years is that Maui is an island surrounded with beaches so the beaches may erode some. As we learned in class, waves cut into the rock creating wave-cuts (Dr. Allen 2012). After time the wave will destroy the rock creating a cave. Here is an example of a before and after wave cut courtesy of Dr. Casey Allen 2012.
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Maui's physical geography after 100 years should see a more drastic change rather than just 10. The beaches that Maui has will no doubt be eroded a lot more. Waves, generated by storms, wind, or fast moving motor craft, cause coastal erosion, which may take the form of long-term losses of sediment and rocks, or merely the temporary redistribution of coastal sediments; erosion in one location may result in accretion nearby. The study of erosion and sediment redistribution is called 'coastal morpho dynamics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_erosion). Maui shouldn't no longer be growing due to its volcanoes being dormant meaning it is no longer active. Below is a picture of Coastal erosion on Maui.
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| Image courtesy of http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/files/coastal_erosion_2.jpg |
Maui may not look the same after 1000 years from now. The sea level is constantly rising at an average rate of 3.3 + 0.4 mm a year. With Maui being at sea level and being an island, the island may flood and you may not be able to live there anymore. Beaches will continue to erode and cliffs continue to be destroyed from wave-cuts. I doubt there will be much if any people living on what was once considered paradise. Maui maybe covered with plants and trees due to no one living there to keep the island clean. Below is a photo of what Maui may look like with the continuous rise of the sea level.
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| Image of Maui flooded courtesy of http://hazardprep.com/wp-content/uploads/hawaii-flood.jpg |
Conclusion
The beautiful island of Maui as we know today will more than likely not look the same as we see today. After a 1000 years it will most likely be flooded and covered with trees and plants.
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