Geology 103 Lab Assignment

1. The Big Island of Hawaii
A Geology Field Study
Geology 103
by Xingyu Chen

2. The big Island of Hawaii was formed
less than 0.7 million years ago and its
still growing (Puna Ridge, 2020).
The formation of the Island is due to
hotspot activity (Monroe,&
Wincander, 2012, Pg. 91). This
activity occurring in the middle of the
Pacific Plate. While the hot spot itself
is fixed, the plate is moving
explaining the string of Islands in the
archipelago region of North Pacific
ocean (Johnson et al., 2017).
The Island of Hawaii is currently
directly over the hostspot explaining
why it is the youngest and why it is
still growing.
Photo Credit: Hawaii.com

3.  An intresting feature about Hawaii is the
volcanic mountains on the Island.
Mauna Loa meaning long mountain is a shield
volcanoe and the world's largest volcanoe locaed
in the south -ventral part of the Island of
Hawaii(Univeristy of Hawai'i, 2018).
The mountain is 13680 ft above sea level and
constitutes half of the Island(Univeristy of
Hawai'i, 2018).
It is an active volcanoe having have erupted 33
times since 1843 with its last eruption been
recoreded in 1984(Univeristy of Hawai'i, 2018).
Mauna Loa Photo Credit: Britannica.com

4. Mount Kilauea is the southernmost and
youngest Volcano in the big Island of
Hawaii.
It's a shield voclanoe elevation stands as
1222m and 4000ft above sea level.
It is an active volcanoe and has erupted 34
times since 1952 with its recent eruption
witnessed in 2018(United States Geological
Survey, 2019).
Between 1983 and 2018 the mountain
experienced a countinous eruption activty
along the East Rift Zone (United States
Geological Survey, 2019).
Photo Credit: USGS

5. The images show sections off Hawaii in 2018 after the eruption of Kilauea
Photo Credit: USA Today.com, NPR.org

6. Types of Rock in Hawaii
 It is important to note that the most common type of rocks in Hawaii are igenous
rocks.
This is because of the volcanic activity found in the Island and the fact that the Island
itself was formed over a hotspot as a result of volcanic activity.

7. Igenous Basalt Rocks
 The big Island of Hawaii is almost entirely
composed of the Basalt rocks.
These rocks form as when magma from a
volcanic activity cools quickly on the surface.
Most of the basalt rocks in Hawaii are dark
colored and consist of fine grains.
They are mainly composed of plagioclase and
pyroxene minerals (King, n.d).
They are common due to the volcanic eruption
of Mount Kilauea and Mauna Loa.
These rocks can be classified as igenious
extrusive.
A common type of basalt in the island is Olivine
basalt.
Photo Credit: I took the photo at Hawaii National
Park

8. Igenious Obisidian Rock
 The common type Obisidian rock found in
Hawaii is black in color.
The rock has a glassy apperance.
This rock is formed at the surface when lava
cools very fast that the rock does not have
time to form crystals.
Snce it forms on the surface it is classified as
an igenious extrusive rock.
This type of rock is only common in Pu'u
Wa'awa'a due to Hualalai Volcano.
Photo Credit : I took the rock from Pu'u
Wa'awa'a region

9. Igenious Rhyolite Rock
 The Rhyolite rock I observed was dark in
color.
 The rock is made up of quartz, plagioclase,
and sanidine, with minor amounts of
hornblende and biotite (King, n.d).
 The grains in the rock are very fine to be
observed.
The rock forms when magma cools on the
surface thus it is a an extrusive rock.
Photo Credit: I took the photo while on a walk

10. Hibiscus
 The Hibiscus flower is very common in
Hawaii with the Island even having several
speicies of it.
It is refered to as Hawaii State flower.
Hibiscus, (genus Hibiscus) is a genus of herbs,
shrubs abd trees that are native to warm and
tropical region

11. Evolution History of Hisbicus
 The Hisbicus flower is thought to have evolved about 135 million years ago(Hidden
Valley Hibiscus, 2017).
The plant has been native in Mauritia, Madagascar, India, and Tibetan China that were
clustered togerther before the breaking of Pangea.
The ancestors of today Hisbicus are thought to be other species of Hibiscus that were
free flowering, tall and willowy bushes and that having the ability to form seeds that
when dispersed grow into genetically identical plants to the parent plants (Hidden
Valley Hibiscus, 2017).
Geological records indicate that the first flowering plants discovered in Spain dated
back to 160 million years ago(Hidden Valley Hibiscus, 2017).
It is though that the flower flourised during the Cretaceous period because of
favourable conditions such as more warm and humid climate.

12. Chameleon Chameleons are common reptiles found in
Hawaii.
Chameleons are best known for changing their
color of their skin to maintain body temperature.
 Paleontologists evidnece point out that the
eraliest species of chemeleon Anqingosaurus
brevicephalus, lived in middle Paleocene Asia 65
million years ago (Strauss, 2019).
However, indirect evience points out that the
reptiles could have been in existence in middle
Cretaceous period and originated in Africa
explaing the many chameleons found in
Madagascar (Strauss, 2019).
Chameleons are though to share a common
ancestor with dragon lizards and Iguanas.
Over 200 species of Chameleon have been
identified world wide.

13. Dolphin The spinner dolphins one of the four
species of dolphins are very common in
Hawaii.
Dolphins belong to the Cetaceans order
of mammals that originated 50 million
years ago in the Eocene epoch
(Understand Dolphins, n.d).
 Cetaceansare water mammals that are
unrelated to other marine life.
Mesonix are dolphins ancesotrs and
existed 95 million years ago (Understand
Dolphins, n.d).
These animals were terrestrial animals
that lived on land went to the water to
feed.
Photo Credit:

14. References
Puna Ridge. (2020). The Hawaiian Islands: An Oceanic Island Chain. Retrieved from
http://www.punaridge.org/doc/factoids/Hawaii/Default.htm
Monroe, J.& Wincander, R. (2012). The Changing Earth: Exploring Geology and Evolution.
Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.
Johnson, C., Affolter, M., Inkenbrandt, P., & Mosher, C. (2017). An Introduction to Geology.
Retrieved June 14, 2020, from http://opengeology.org/textbook/4-igneous-processes-and-volcanoes/
Univeristy of Hawai'i. (2018). Hawaii Center for Volcanology: Home. Retrieved from
https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/maunaloa.html
United States Geological Survey. (2019). Volcano Hazards Program HVO Kīlauea. Retrieved from
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/
King, H. M. (n.d). Basalt. Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://geology.com/rocks/basalt.shtml
Hidden Valley Hibiscus. (2017). News from Hidden Valley Hibiscus. Retrieved from
https://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/newsletters/february2017.htm
Strauss, B. (2019). How Much Do You Know About Chameleons? Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-chameleons-4123639
Understand Dolphins. (n.d). Dolphin Evolution. Retrieved from
http://understanddolphins.tripod.com/dolphinevolution.html