Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

A look at the island of Hawai‘i through time

WORDS BROOKE REHMANN

Imagine for a moment being magically whisked away aboard a time machine (a DeLorean perhaps), traveling to any period of interest. Maybe, let’s say, you went back a hundred thousand years, or maybe a million, or even more. If you had boarded your time machine here in Hawai‘i, what might you see? Perhaps you’d be standing at the exact same spot you originated at, but instead of starting off on the Big Island, you would now be on an older island, like O‘ahu or Kaua‘i, or maybe even Midway Atoll. Due to Hawai‘i’s location on a volcanic hotspot that has been constantly erupting for millions of years, islands have formed, eroded, and sunk back into the sea, all the while moving in a steady northwest direction away from the hotspot due to plate tectonics. What would the view look like from those islands when they were younger?

Let’s say, instead, that you hopped back aboard this time machine and jetted into the future. Now the part of the Big Island you had started at would have moved—but to where? Perhaps it might have sunken, a beautiful shoreline that once was, but now only a memory to those no longer around to tell of its beauty. Instead, you find yourself on new land, perhaps even a new island, one we can only dream up in the present. Hawai‘i grants an almost magical ability to tell the stories of the past, all while writing the present and anticipating the future. All you have to do is get out there and explore.

But how will you know what to look for? If you’ve explored the Hawaiian Islands, you would certainly have noticed the different skylines, from Kaua‘i’s famed jagged peaks of Näpali to Big Island’s gentler, though drastically taller, volcanoes, and all shapes in between. You might have marveled at the closeness of Maui, Lāna‘i, Moloka‘i, and Kaho‘olawe, without realizing that at some point in the past, they were all connected as one island. Perhaps, it once looked like the Big Island, with its five distinct volcanoes—could your present location someday be on a separate island, no longer connected to the other neighboring volcanoes you see outside your door?

Interestingly, the answer is likely to be yes. We can see this through evidence of an already missing volcano of the Big Island, located below sea level. Did you know this place even existed? Recently, I stumbled across this fact and was taken aback that the island’s slow descent back into the sea has already taken place in a quite dramatic fashion. This submerged volcano, Māhukona, is located off the North Kona through North Kohala coastlines. Though we cannot see its peak, evidence of its existence remains—topographical maps of the seabed reveal its shape, and underwater studies have revealed a sunken coral reef. Having last erupted 350,000 to 400,000 years ago, this volcano is our island’s oldest, with its closest neighbor volcano, Kohala, last erupting roughly 65,000 years ago. Had you traveled back to the days of its submarine eruptions, you would have had to stand on Maui as the Big Island was still only but a dream, waiting for the day that it might eventually rise above the sea. Alas, that day never came for Māhukona, but luckily for all of us, the five volcanoes that make up the Big Island eventually did.

For those wondering what the landscape might have been like long ago, the Big Island abounds with clues. Take a drive to Waipi‘o or Pololū Valley lookouts and follow the dramatic coastline contours. As you gaze at the stunning panorama, you might notice that the coastline looks quite different from the rest of the island—leading you to think something disastrous must have happened here at one point. Scientists have found evidence of a debris avalanche of land, once belonging to Kohala Volcano, piled on the seafloor. Today, the beautiful vistas, admired by thousands of visitors each year, evoke tranquility while diminishing the immense drama that took place here long ago. When you gaze out at the jaw-dropping scenery, try to imagine what the coastline might have looked like all those years ago, still intact.

For those looking for a little more recent history, one needs only to study the latest volcanic activity. Looking for something that took place in the last 200 or so years? If you landed at the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport, you would have seen Hualālai’s most recent eruption. Covering a large swatch of North Kona terrain, the black lava left an indelible impression on those living contemporaneously of the eruption, as well as visitors who first catch a glimpse of the unusual landscape from their airplane’s window. A little further up the coastline you can see the 1859 eruption from Mauna Loa, as it slithered its way down to Kīholo Bay, destroying a village and massive fishpond. This eruption lasted 300 days and was so bright and voluminous that people could see the light from the south side of Maui, and could use its glow to read in the dark in Waimea. Those who hike to Kīholo Bay and reach its stunning shoreline only need to imagine a time not so long ago when Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, reshaped the coastline.

Of course, many people know of Hawai‘i’s s most famous and recently most prolific volcano, Kīlauea. Back when it started erupting in 1983, it was hard to imagine how much the Big Island would change over time. Kaimū Beach, located in Kalapana, used to be a beautiful strand of black sand framed by idyllic coconut palms. In 1990, lava inundated this unique beach, wiping it off the map. However, over time, a new beach has formed in its place. You can still see where the old shoreline existed; but now to get to the beach, you must walk 5 to 10 minutes before being greeted with a new strand of midnight black sand. Industrious caretakers planted palms nearby, a promise to future visitors that Kaimū Beach is a place that not only lives in the past and present, but also dreams of the future.

With the significant May 2018 eruption that displaced thousands of people, covered neighborhoods, and wiped out some of Puna’s most stunning shoreline, the past, present, and future collided in intense and disastrous fashion. One cannot help but be in awe of the display of power or the unpredictability of an actively erupting volcano, and for those lucky enough to visit Kīlauea from 1983 to 2018, we saw firsthand the magic of Earth at work. An even newer black sand beach at Isaac Hale Beach Park, Pohoiki, only came into existence within the past year due to this recent eruption. Sadly, some beloved spots like Kapoho Tidepools, Green Lake and Ahalanui Beach Park were consumed by lava and are sorely missed.

Though Kīlauea is no longer erupting, the scientists of the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park are actively at work studying the most recent eruption, attempting to anticipate the eruptions of the future, as it is only a matter of when, not if, that Pele will awaken from her slumber once again. There’s no official way to predict when, though there are clues that scientists look for. The reality is the Big Island will continue to grow, all the while battering the ravages of wind, rain and time. The Pacific Plate will continue to inch its way northwestward, and a new island, Lō‘ihi, will likely soon (well, only if you consider the next 100,000 years “soon”) poke its head above the sea. The everchanging landscape is a reminder to us all to appreciate nature’s gems in our present time. Go experience them and take plenty of pictures while they are still here for us to enjoy. You never know when Pele will decide it’s time to reshape the island again and take claim of our cherished sites.