Hawaii was born from the Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanos. Recall that the volcanoes are classified as shield because of the dome shape and gradual slope. Lava does not only escape from the top but also all around cracks or fissures. This type of volcano is know for the extensive lava tubes that carry lava far from the volcano itself.
Mauna Loa and Kilaeua are the most prominant volcanoes on the island of Hawaii
The Thurston lava tube in Hawaii once carried lava far from the volcanoes. The lava has now run its course and people can walk through the tube.
The Thurston lava tube in Hawaii once carried lava far from the volcanoes. The lava has now run its course and people can walk through the tube.
The island of Hawaii is constantly changing due to weathering and mass wasting. Rock slides and rock slumps are common. Recall that rock slumps are curved lines of failure and rock slides are straight lines of failure.
Visual aid to compare rock slump and rock slide.
Rock slump on the big island (On top) Evidence of rock slide, notice angle of cliffs
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The ocean around the island also constantly beats on the coastlines, reshaping and erroding it everyday. As the water from the waves bring sediment, or sand, on to the beach, it also carries some sediment back into the ocean. This is a process called "swash and backwash".
The swash indicates the ocean coming up to the beach and backwash indicates the water retreating. Notice how swash comes up at an angle and backwash goes straight down.
Swash and backwash in real life.
As the island continues to grow from the lava flows the ocean slowly errodes it away. This means that over time Hawaii will change drastically.
Hawaii in 10 years...
In ten years I predict that Hawaii will not look too different than it does today. Ten years in geographical terms is not long at all. According to wikipedia the island grows about 3.5 meters per day from the lava flows meeting the ocean waves and cooling. That is about ten feet per day. This means that in 10 years it will have grown nearly 36,500 feet.
Lava meeting the ocean. The black areas represent new land that has been formed.
Another view of new land created from cooled lava.
It is important to remember that Hawaii is moving over a hot spot on Earth. According to the Oxford dictionary a hot spot is "Also known as a plume, this is an area of localized swelling and cracking of the earth's crust due to an upward welling of magma." The plate where Hawaii is located moves over the hotspot very slowly. In the future the big island will no longer be over the it however more islands are likely to form.
Magma comes up from Earths mantle in a hotspot and a volcano is formed. All the Hawaiin islands were formed from the hotspot.
Hawaii in 50 years.....
In fifty years the island of Hawaii will be slightly closer to Japan. Accorrding to researchers from soest.edu the Pacific plate (where Hawaii is located) is moving about 7cm a year. This means that in fifty years the island will move about 350 cm from its current location.
This picture shows which direction the Pacific plate is moving for reference.
In fifty years there will be more evidence of mass wasting as Hawaii grows older and weathering occurs. The cliffs may become steeper as rock slides continue and the beaches will become more linear as the ocean is trying to reach equilibrium with the land.
Cliffs on the big island, linear failure plane shows evidence of rock slide
The ocean errodes the rock so that eventually the beach will look like......
Notice how land and ocean run almost parrallel to eachother, reaching equilibrium.
Hawaii in 1000 years....
In 1000 years Hawaii should grow about 3,650,000 feet and move towards Japan about 7,000 cm with the statistics. However it is also moving away from the hot spot and there is another island being born off the coast. This new island is Loi'hi and is 22 miles away from Hawaii. It is 10,000 feet above the ocean floor and continues to build up as the plate moves over the hot spot. Accorrding to wikipedia it is expected to emerge from the ocean in about 10,000 years.
Loi'hi is close to the big island and feeds off the same hotspot.
This pictures shows that currently the hot spot is feeding both the volcanoes in Hawaii and the new island Loi'hi.
In 1000 years the big island of Hawaii will be cut off from the hot spot as the plate moves toward Japan and therefore will stop growing. Both Mauna Loa and Kilauea will become dormant, or no longer be active volcanoes because there will be no lava or magma to fuel it. Hawaii is the biggest island in the chain, but as errosion and weathering take over it may become smaller and resemble the older islands.
Hawaii is clearly the biggest island compared to the older ones.
Final sights of Hawaii.....
Valley on the island
Beautiful beach
Sunset on the island
