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The Hawaiian Islands were formed in much the same way as described above, though they clearly have lasted many hundreds of thousands of years. And in fact, in another 100,000 to 200,000 years (give or take) the newest Hawaiian Island, Kama`ehuakanaloa (formerly L\u014d`ihi Seamount), will emerge from the Pacific Ocean. It is currently 3,200 feet below the surface, located around 22 miles off the southeast coast of Hawai`i Island, building slowly from an underwater flank of Mauna Loa.<\/p>\n
It is not difficult to imagine what the land- scape of Kama`ehuakanaloa will look like when it emerges, as the vast fields of brown and black lava one sees on the west side of Hawai`i Island today provide the preview. Stretching from mauka<\/em> to makai<\/em> all along the Kona-Kohala Coast, the lava is a stark and magnificent sight that not even those who have traveled far and wide are likely to have seen before.<\/p>\n Born of the molten issue from Hawai`i Island\u2019s family of five volcanoes \u2014 Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hual\u0101lai, K\u012blauea, and the Kohala Range \u2014 the dozen or so distinct lava fields we drive through to reach Waikoloa Beach Resort from the airport (which itself is built atop a lava flow from Hual\u0101lai) are anywhere from hundreds to tens of thou- sands of years old. The most recent eruption that flowed to this area came from Mauna Loa in 1859 and includes the land on which Waikoloa Beach Resort was built.<\/p>\n ISLANDS BORN OF FIRE<\/strong><\/p>\n On the south end of the island, 100 miles from the Kohala Coast resorts, K\u012blauea Volcano has been spewing lava almost continuously for more than 35 years, sit- ting atop the underwater \u201chot spot\u201d in the 3,600-mile-long Hawaiian Island-Emperor Seamount chain.<\/p>\n According to the U.S. Geological Survey, \u201cAll the Hawaiian Islands owe their existence to this hot spot in the Earth\u2019s mantle that has changed location only slightly over the past 70 million years. Countless eruptions of lava fed by the hot spot built volcanoes that eventually grew above sea level to form (the Hawaiian) islands.<\/p>\n \u201cBut because the seafloor on which they were built was continually moving north- westward across the hot spot at a rate of 7-9 centimeters per year, eventually each volcano was torn away from the hot spot and carried northwestward, just as a conveyor belt moves material from one location to another. Such is the (eventual) fate for the active volcanoes on the Big Island, though they will be replaced by new volcanoes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A LANGUAGE ALL THEIR OWN<\/strong><\/p>\n Volcanoes have their own language and here in Hawai`i, even their own goddess. Visitors are sure to hear stories of Pele, the fire goddess of volcanoes; discover the difference between \u2018a\u2018\u0101<\/em> (sharp, brown) and p\u0101hoehoe<\/em> (smooth, black) lava; drive past cinder cones and pu`u<\/em> formations; and view spatter ramparts, lava tubes and caves, and crustal overturnings by the side of the highway. Why so much variation in the look and texture of our lava fields?<\/p>\n \u201cAll Hawaiian lava is black when it first cools but may turn more brownish as the iron in the lava oxidizes with rain and time,\u201d says James Kauahikaua, a geophysicist with the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.<\/p>\n \u201cThe type of lava \u2014 \u2018a\u2018\u0101<\/em> or p\u0101hoehoe<\/em> \u2014 is the result of sheer stresses within the liquid lava while it is flowing. Higher eruption rates characteristic of the early days of an eruption usually produce \u2018a\u2018\u0101 lava, whereas lower eruption rates usually produce p\u0101hoehoe<\/em> lava. There is no substantial difference in chemistry between the two forms of lava.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The early Hawaiians made creative use of the dominant material they had on hand, using the lava rock to build boundary fences, pens for livestock, heiau<\/em> (religious platforms), and fishpond seawalls among many things.<\/p>\n Adjacent to the fishponds fronting the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, two rock structures \u2014 thought to have been constructed in the 1300s \u2014 were used for the highly structured, religious system of the Hawaiians. The men\u2019s eating house, or Ka Hale Mua, is the larger of the two structures, and consists of three rooms. Men visited to worship the gods and eat food together. Women were forbidden to eat with men in ancient Hawaiian times. The sleeping house, or Noa, is a one-room structure where men and women met freely and slept together.<\/p>\n In some areas, the p\u0101hoehoe<\/em> lava was used for carving petroglyphs, with some of the state\u2019s best petroglyph fields preserved within Waikoloa Beach Resort. With no written Hawaiian language, it is speculated that these rock carvings may be a sort of historical record of families, commemorations of significant events, or even astronomical symbols.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.waikoloabeachresort.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/lava-wall-500x361.jpg\")
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