Hawaii's Shield Volcanoes

The Hawaiian islands are volcanic in origin, built off of a sea-bed volcano over a rift on the floor of the pacific ocean; continental drift dragging crustal plates over a basaltic hot spot. All of the islands are built over volcanoes, with the youngest island (Big Island) having five, and Oahu having two. These are examples of shield volcanoes, known for gradually sloping mountains rising from the sea, the result of fluid lava flows.

Merely 70 million years old (only Iceland is younger), these beautiful islands were shape by tropical rains, earthquakes, eruptions and the gentle lapping of the Pacific surf. They're among the most isolated ecological zones in the world.

This far from gentle geological process has resulted in some of the most iconic spots on the planet, ranging from Diamond Head to Mauna Kea, to the double mountain ranges of Oahu. Even beyond this, the northern islands show fascinating terrain and are a fascinating view of how temporary islands are on a geological time scale.

On the Big Island, there are five shield volcanoes - the young and furiously erupting Kilauea, the broodily dormant Mauna Loa and Hualalai, the massive Mauna Kea and the extinct Kohala which is the oldest of the group. These form the backdrops for lush valleys, precipitous canyons, jagged and soaring cliffs and dry deserts, all of which are home to exotic tropical flora and fauna.

You find microclimes here like in no other place on earth. On the still growing Big Island, there are eleven different microclimes from pristine rainforests, to black sand beaches, bone-dry deserts and snow-capped mountains. Therefore, you can be skiing on the summit of Mauna Kea in the morning and sunbathing on the beach in the afternoon.

There are two shield volcanoes in Maui which created an island in which you can drive from zero to 10,000 feet in 38 miles. On the way, you will pass through tropical beaches, sugar plantations, grassy hills where the paniolo or Hawaiian cowboys ride, up to the Haleakala crater to watch the sunise.

Honolulu lies nestled in Oahu. Oahu shows two different shield volcanoes running in parallel mountain ranges. Koolau is on the east, and captures the trade winds, showing Oahu's tropical rain forest. On the west, Waianae keeps the rain from hitting the coast, and the climate is drier and more Mediterranean.

In between them is the Ewa valley, which has moderate, almost continental temperatures. On the western coast, it's dryer and warmer, almost like California. Most of Oahu's population, including Honolulu, is on the west coast and in the central valley.

Kauai is the smallest of the "big islands", and is the home to Mt. Waialeale, which is one of the wettest spots on earth, catching the confluence of the Japan Current and the trade winds and pulling down almost 420 inches of rain a year. To the west is Waimea Canyon, which is cut from red rock like the American Southwest, and a river leading down to the white sandy beaches and cliffs of the Na Pali coast.

Beyond Kauai are the four small islands, which are all older and more weathered than the main islands, and much less populated; without the mountains in the center to catch the rain, most of them are highly desertified.

It is the unique nature of the shield volcanoes that has given rise to the biodiversity and the spectacular scenery of Hawaii. The chain is still expanding. Loihi has been erupting underwater off southern Big Island since 1996. Come back in 250,000 years and you will see Loihi break the surface to be the ninth Hawaiian island.

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