Thursday, May 9, 2013

Final Blog Post

Hawaii has been known as one of the most beautiful places in the world with all of the green tropical vegetation, marvelous beaches, hot weather and volcanic mountains. Many physical geography factors helped shape this gorgeous island as we see it today. The Hawaiian Islands were formed by a hotspot in the middle of the Pacific Oceanic Plate. The hotspot volcanism created each island as time went on and as the Pacific Oceanic Plate moved northwest. These islands consist of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and the Hawaii Island. Another factor that helped shape Hawaii to the way it is today, is its location on the planet. Because Hawaii is closer to the equator, it receives warm temperture year round. Hawaii also experiences different weather depending on what side of the island you are on. The eastern facing side of each island is usually cooler and windier because the trade winds blown from the northeast.


In this demonstration, the Pacific Oceanic Plate is moving northwest and fixed

hotspot is creating islands.


 

Hawaii in 1000 years:

In 1000 years from now, Hawaii will be close to the same as it is today. In geography years, 1000 years is pretty much nothing. But due to the increased amount of UV rays from the sun because of the ozone layers depletion, will increase the annual average temperature of Hawaii from about 75 degrees (today) to about the mid 80s. Hawaii (hypothesis made from data gathered by the National Climatic Data Center). Also, Hawaii will expeience a volcanic eruption by the considered most active volcano, KÄ«lauea, on the Big Island of Hawaii.

 

Hawaii has 8 Islands, which are Niihau, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, and the Big Island Hawaii. Refer to the hand drawn map above. The red dots on the map indicate active volcanos today.

Hawaii in 10,000 years:

In ten thousand years Hawaii will not change all too much compared to it one thousand years from now. Although the islands of Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, and Molokai will start to be submerged in the Pacific Ocean due to mass wasting on the islands and sea level rising due to glaciers melting. But something is also brewing underneath the seas of Hawaii something huge that in thousands of years could change the look of Hawaii forever. This object brewing on the Hawaiian Hot Spot is a super volcano capable of creating another island just south east of the big island of Hawaii.  
 
 
 
 
Refer to the above for a hand drawn picture of Hawaii in 10,000 years. The red indicates active volcanos.
Hawaii in 1,000,000 years:


In a million years Hawaii will look completely different from the way it is today. The islands Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, and Molokai will not be above water anymore. Researchers found that the mountains located on Oahu (Koolau and Waianae), are being destroyed by erosion because the water under the island are dissolving it from the inside! So with this evidence and the fact that many ice glaciers are melting (which will raise the water levels on earth), Hawaii will lose four of its islands. But in a million years, Hawaii will also gain an island. The volcano, Loihi, will erupt and become very active . This is how the other islands were formed and history always repeats itself.

This is drawing of Hawaii in islands in 1 million years. The red triangles indicate active volcanos in Hawaii.

 

 

All in all there is much knowledge we’ve have gained from this final blog about the ways Hawaii could shape out to look like in the future. It first starts with the 1,000 year mark where we learned that the only major change is in the ozone with more UV rays getting through ultimately affecting the islands temperature (as much as a 5 degree difference). Next we fast forward to 10,000 where we see mass wasting and sea levels rising, mostly affecting the islands of Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, and Molokai. Finally in one million years from now Hawaii (according to our hypothesis) will take on a whole different look. With the islands of Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, and Molokai all under the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii will have a new island appearing south east of the big island of Hawaii. This causes by a volcanic eruption of a super volcano sitting under the water and on the Hawaiian Hot Spot.
 
 
Sources:
 



Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Clouds and Hydrology of Hawaii

Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water and Hawaii has many unique examples of this throughout its islands. Recently in the Hawaiian Islands rainfall has been average to below average than previous year totals. This is a cause for concern since Hawaii relies on the porosity of its ground to water plants and even for drinking water.




This image shows Hawaii's annual precipitaion. All these numbers are where Hawaii should be on its yearly rainfall. Unfortunatley this year it hasnt been the case and some Hawaii's islands like Maui and Kauai have been below their previous year averages.
http://www.hawaii-guide.com/images/large_downloadables/hawaiian_precipitation_map.jpg 



This rainfall also comes down mostly on top of Hawaii's many volcanoes which could be classified as a radial slope in which the water will run down each of its sides into the area around the volcano or slope. One reason geologists study groundwater is to learn how it moves beneath the Earth's surface. The area in which the water accumulates is known as the saturated zone, and the layer above it, the unsaturated zone. When a well is dug in the saturated zone water will fill to the top of the said zone. This is why rain water is a key component to Hawaii's daily life and without it could affect
thousands if they don't receive the average amount.

Volcanoes like this one on the Island of Hawaii serve as a radial slope when rain storm hits.
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sites/files/article/210249_web_19830906JDG2879_copy.jpg 


Hawaii has been known as one of the most beautiful places and is a popular destination for vacations and get-aways. Clouds definitely help add to this level of beauty.Clouds are, “A visible mass of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere, typically high above the ground.” Also, the reason clouds are formed is because water evaporation and the mixing of warm and cold air. In Hawaii, you will find every type of cloud there is. To start off, there are several basic cloud types: Cumulus, Cumulus, Cirrus, and Nimbus. All of these clouds have different qualities, which include different altitudes and amounts of precipitation.

In the background of the photo above, you can see some Cumulus clouds. These clouds are Cumulus because they are mid level clouds (which could be considered altocumulus clouds) and are “fluffier”.



 
 
In this photo of Oahu, Hawaii, these type of clouds are called stratus because they are dark, lower level clouds.
 
These clouds were photographed at Kahului, Maui are known as Cirrus clouds. Cirrus clouds are known for being very wispy white clouds and being high altitude clouds.
 
In this photo token off the coast off the big island of Hawaii, you can see that these clouds are dark and look like storm clouds. These clouds are known as Nimbus clouds that bear rain and are low-level clouds.
 
 
Clouds can also be mixtures of different types of clouds. For example: there are Nimbostratus clouds, which are dark, low rain clouds that stretch acrossed the sky.



 
Works Cited: 
 
 
 



Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Mass Wasting in The Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands which we all know for being created by violent volcanic activity, are little did we know also created by a series of mass wasting events causing the expansion of the islands. Mass wasting is a downslope movement of angular slope material, gravity is a key aspect of mass wasting. Landslides, topples, falls, and flows are all examples of different types of mass wasting. The Hawaiian Islands are a prime example of how mass wasting can form and expand a whole island just by colluvium gathering up at the base and just stacking up.
This is a photo of debris from the rather large landslides off of Oahu and Molokai. The debris stretchs hundreds of kilometers into the Pacific.
http://www.mbari.org/volcanism/Hawaii/HR-Landslides.htm

 
Though Kona has many landslides on the north and south sides of it Oahu has many as well. Oahu has experienced many debris flows and slides due to heavy storm, rainfall, and moist soil. This is a photo was taken of Tripler Ridge trail and you can clearly see the flow on the side of this mountain/hill. The debris flow made a rotational slump that scooped the material out of the side of this mountain and left colluvium at the base of the hill. This flow fortunately did not injure any civilians or destroy any property because no developments are located around it.


This is an example of just what a Oahu landslide looks like. Notice the debris and the rather large hole left in the mountain. This was caused primarily by mass wasting.
http://punynari.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/tripler-ridge-105.jpg?w=640

In 1994, Laupahoehoe, Hawaii experienced a giant landslide on the side of a cliff that left a house literally hanging off the edge (refer to video). This slide left enormous amounts of colluvium at the bottom of the cliff, which was in a body of water.

Overall mass wasting is a big geographical component in the Hawaiian Islands. Each part of mass wasting (topples, falls, slides and flows) can be represented on atl east one of the Hawaiian Islands. With this widespread mass wasting going on in Hawaii, many citizens and cities fear for safety. Landslide events like the one in the video above, in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, can be very dangerous if you're in its path. Landslides are caused by six factors, climate, wind, decay, water, seismic activity, and slope. Citizens around the world have taken steps to better protect themselves from these events Mother Nature throws at us.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Works Cited:
Allen, Casey. Notes. 23 Feb. 2013.




 





 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Hot Spots

The Hawaiian Islands were formed and are still currently sitting on a large interior hot spot dating back to millions of years ago. A hot spot is simply when magma rises from the mantle comes either to or almost to the surface at locations that may not be anywhere near a plate boundary. Sitting on Lithosphere hot spots are the casue of a lot of Hawaii's volcanic activity.


Hot Spots in Hawaii
http://www.mbari.org/volcanism/images/allDives-web.jpg

The state of Hawaii sits in the middle of the Pacific Plate in the Pacific Ocean, at 105 million square kilometers, it is the largest tectonic plate in the world. Plate techtonics is a theory that describes the large scale motions of "plates" on the Earth's Lithosphere. The Pacific plate interacts with a plethora of the other plates surrounding it. On It's left side the Pacific Plate interacts with the Indo-Australian forming a convergent boundary, while on the north side of the plate another convergent boundary is formed with the North American Plate.


This is a map of the different plates around the world
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plates_tect2_en.svg


Hawaii is the home to several volcanos but only few are active. Each Hawaiian island is made of at least one volcano, which first erupted on the sea floor and only emerged above the ocean's surface after countless eruptions. On the big island, Hawai'i there are 2 active volcanos named Kilauea, and Mauna Loa. As we discussed, hot spots are the main cause of volcanos.
Mauna Loa. Which happens to be a large sheild volcano.




Hawaii is the home to active volcanos like Mauna Loa (the biggest volcano in Hawaii), Kilauea, and Loihi. But also many inactive volcanos like Haulalai, Mauna Kea and Wanianae. Hawaii has many shield volcanos, which are flatter than all other types of volcanos. The other types of volcanos are, “composite” and “cinder cone”. This explains the liquid flowing lava (which is referred to as Pahoehoe) that comes from eruptions from Mauna Loa. Believe it or not, several of the Hawaiian Islands are actually the tops of shield volcano’s that formed on top of hot spots like we discussed earlier!
This is an image of Kilauea in mid eruption.  
Sources:

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Introduction

In this blog you will be blown away by the vast geographic features the great state of Hawaii has to offer. From the great volcanoes to the crystal clear waters of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii is a geographers paradise. Hi, my name is Dylan Santos, I am 18 years old and I'm currently a freshman here a CU Denver. I'm originally from New Jersey where I lived for 12 years and am a huge Jets and Yankees fan. Another thing I'd like you all to know about me is I love going to the beach and spending time in the sun and sand. This is why my vote was for Hawaii for this blog. I mean what better place than Hawaii to view the different landscapes our great Earth has to offer.

Hello, my name is Brady Kinsey-Murillo. I am 19 years old and also a student at UC Denver. I love to stay active but the occasional relaxing and hanging out is fun too. I was born in El Paso, Texas but moved to Colorado when I was a kid and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else! Also, I am a Business and Finance major and I currently work at a commercial real estate brokerage firm. I wanted to choose Hawaii because I actually went there on vacation a few years ago and it was beautiful. I went to island called Kona

My name is Eddie Lee I am from Canada and orginally from South Korea. The reason I came to Colorado is only for getting degrees in University of Colorado Denver. I am majoring in Business emphasis in Marketing. My personal interest is Hiking, traveling, cooking and spending time with my friends and family. I chose business major because I like money the reason that I take this class is required. I chose Hawaii because it is interesting place and one day I like to go to Hawaii only for honeymoon in the future.

Ultimately as a group Brady, Eddie, and I all agreed on Hawaii because for one we all love the beach and two we are interested to find more about its vast array of landscapes this great state has to offer us.