Maui's Soils

The island of Maui has many different types of soil. Soils from Andisol, Aridisol, Histosol, Inceptisol, Mollisol, Oxisol, and Ultisol. The picture below shows the locations of where the soils are at on Maui.

Image courtesy of http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/mauisoil/images/SoilOrders_Maui.jpg

The majority of the island's soil is Andisol which is Volcanic ash soils (Dr. Allen 2012). 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 volcanic soil largely consist of non-crystalline minerals, such as allophone and imogolite. The minerals create strong bonds with organic matter resulting for the matter to generally accumulate the surface horizon. Andisols are usually light and fluffy and are easily tilled. This soil holds a lot of water just like a sponge. Some Andisols can be found in Hana which is located on the windward East side of Maui which occupies approximately 8,000 acres. The soil is located around sea level and 1,200 ft. The Hana Series was created from volcanic ash that was deposited over cinders and `a`a lava flows. The soil profile may extend from 27 to 40 inches. 

Andisol in Hana, Image courtesy of http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/mauisoil/images/volcanic.jpg

 

Another soil that I will talk about in this blog is the Oxisol. It is the most highly weathered soil order. This soil is made from year-round hot tropical, moist climates. The soil layers contain clay particles and is loaded with hydrous oxides or aluminum and iron. Oxisol can be mainly found in Lahaina, where they grow pineapples and irrigated cane sugar.

Picture of Lahaina courtesy of http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/mauisoil/images/Lahaina_Maui.jpg 

Located on West Maui occupies 21,000 acres with elevations ranging from 10 to 1,500 ft. Oxisol was formed here from basic igneous rock with alluvial deposits. It may contain fragments of coral, sand, and gravel. Lahaina's Oxisol is very different from the other world's Oxisol in that it can sufficiently supply plant nutrients, although, irrigation is required. As I mentioned earlier it is used for Pineapple and irrigated Sugarcane. The Lahaina Series Oxisol is acidic, and is not as fertile as less weathered soils, it still provides base cation nutrients unlike many highly weathered soils.

Lahaina Oxisol courtesy of http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/mauisoil/images/oxisol2.jpg

Sources: Dr. Casey Allen,  http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/mauisoil/b_oxisol.aspx,  http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/mauisoil/b_andisol.aspx

How Maui was Created

Maui was first created by two massive volcanoes. Both of those volcanoes rose more than a mile above the ocean's surface and created enough lava to fill the valley between the volcanoes, therefore creating Maui (http://www.pinnacle-travel.org/hawaii/Maui.htm).

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).

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).

Image of Haleakala by https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio6HHrUu5Dke6DKM4ptrposVeNAoCliwZgja6200FdcpLFqz1YybS94sJpBMUcz1Jm_N55W27PcGWBrGG5cBk2BvS0NSqboXIllxc741ZL7WoCPh9_e59Tu9aYKAtec_v5ao09MYh5Sg/s1600/haleakala-hawaii+2.jpg 

Maui, the Valley Isle

Aloha! My name is Matthew Davis and I chose to do the island Maui of Hawaii for my location.

Although my location may not seem big in size, there are quite a bit of things to see. Born and raised on Maui, I choose to do Maui to view it in a whole different way. When I return for summer break, I hope to be able to show off to my family and friends Physical Geography terms to describe Maui. Maui ranges from beautiful beaches, volcanoes, and valleys. I'm really looking forward to learning about where I grew up and one of the most beautiful places on Earth. 

Image courtesy of http://www.hiptravelmama.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/big_maui_map.gif

Background Image courtesy of http://lostworld.pair.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc00311.jpg