Notes on the geology of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands [abs.]

Lindgren, Waldemar

The island is entirely of volcanic origin, and, like some others of the same group, is made up of two old volcanoes separated by a low gap. The western part of the island is a volcanic mountain rising to an elevation of about 1,200 feet. The eastern and most interesting part forms a segment of a circle, the north coast being the chord. The highest peaks rise to nearly 5,000 feet above the sea. While the southern slope is that of a fairly regular volcanic cone and is scored by a great number of ravines, the northern coast is characterized by a great and extremely steep escarpment attaining a height of over 3,000 feet above the sea. Five streams drain this north slope and have eroded deep canyons or alcoves. The escarpment is interpreted as a great fault along which the northern half of the volcanic cone has sunk down below the sea. The peninsula of the leper settlement at the foot of the escarpment is believed to be a part of the thrown block. At the forks of the stream of Wailau great boulders of coarse diabase were found, indicating that in the upper drainage basin of this stream there are extensive outcrops of this rock, which has not heretofore been known to occur in the Hawaiian Islands.

Notes on the geology of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands [abs.]

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