The formation of Maui





The island of Maui was formed by a single mantle hotspot.  This hotspot formed all the major Hawaiian islands, which are tops of giant undersea shield volcanoes.  This oceanic hotspot has created an area of uplifted topography  surrounding regional volcanism.  Underneath the earth's surface where the lithosphere is thinner, the hotspot undergoes decompression melting which results in larger swell volume and greater island building. As time goes by volcanic islands are getting older and drifting westward.  The crust upon which the volcanoes sit begins to cool, and then slowly starts to erode, this leads to the shriveling of the islands and their eventual submergence below the ocean's surface.  The hotspot is currently under the Big Island of Hawaii.







Maui has the nickname "The Valley Island" because the island was formed by 2 massive volcanoes ( The West Maui Volcano and the East Maui Volcano ).  These 2 volcanoes rose more than a mile above the ocean floor, and emitted enough lava to fill the valley between them, creating the island of Maui.

The red volcanic dirt which can be seen all over the island, is great for growing sugar cane because of the lava that came out of the volcanoes were rich in minerals, and is red in color because the lava was rich in iron, which then has since oxidized and turned rusty red.



Haleakala is the most visited part of East Maui, and is closely associated with the entire shield of east Maui Volcano.  Shield volcanoes are gently sloping mountains produced from a large number of generally very fluid lava flows.  Basalt is a type of rock that is primarily erupted from Hawaiian volcanoes.  The fluidity of molten basalt favors the formation of the lava flow, creating gentle sloping sides on the volcano.  The oldest lava flow exposed on East Maui is about  1.1 million yrs in age, which according to scientist East Maui volcano began its growth about 2 million yrs ago.





Haleakala East Volcano Shield