Kathy and I just got back from Maui. This was our ninth or tenth visit to Hawaii. Visits to Hawaii are always interesting and often surprise me with new, thought provoking, ideas.
Above is a NOAA chart view of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Kahoolawe (four islands located between Oahu and the big island of Hawaii). One of the locals mentioned that Maui was formed when the basin between the volcanoes on the northwest part of the island, and the volcanoes on the southeast part of the island was filled in by lava flows and later soil and vegetation. These lava flows were similar to the flows on the big island of Hawaii between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes.
These comments got me thinking about the basin between the four islands. The water is less than 100 fathoms (600 ft.) between these islands. Imagine if the lava flows had continued - and filled up the basin between these islands. What would the "new" island look like? The above photo is the same as the previous one - except that I have highlighted the "shallow" water and outlined the 100 fathom line. Pretty neat.
Is this amount of flow possible. Well, the "new" island would be about 100 miles long and 40 miles wide. The inland pacific northwest experienced lava flows much more extensive than this eons ago... So, why not??? Don't believe it??? Take a look at the lava rock layers that extend from the Tri-Cities region all the way to Colville and throughout the Columbia Basin.
Happy 4th of July.
