Maui

This camera shows the Surfregion of Hawaii. The island of Maui (pronounced /ˈmaʊ.iː/ in English, [ˈmɐu.i] in Hawaiian[2]) is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles (1883.5 km2) and is the United States' 17th largest island.[3] Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, and Molokaʻi. In 2000, Maui had a population of 117,644, third-most populous of the Hawaiian islands, behind that of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi. Kahului is the largest town on the island with a population of 20,146.[4] Wailuku is the seat of Maui County. Other significant towns include Kīhei, Lahaina, Makawao, Pāʻia, Kula, Haʻikū, Hāna, Kāʻanapali, and Kapalua. Native Hawaiian tradition gives the origin of the island's name in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. The story goes that he named the island of Maui after his son who in turn was named for the demigod Māui. The Island of Maui is also called the "Valley Isle" for the large isthmus between its northwestern and southeastern volcanoes. Maui's wide variety of landscapes resulted from a unique combination of geology, topography, and climate. Each volcanic cone in the chain of the Hawaiian Islands is built of dark, iron-rich/quartz-poor rocks, which poured out of thousands of vents as highly fluid lava, over a period of millions of years. Several of the volcanoes were close enough to each other that lava flows on their flanks overlapped one another, merging into a single island. Maui is such a "volcanic doublet", formed from two shield volcanoes that overlapped one another to form an isthmus between them.[5] The older, western volcano has been eroded considerably and is cut by numerous drainages, forming the peaks of the West Maui Mountains (in Hawaiian Mauna Kahalawai). Puʻu Kukui is the highest of the peaks at 5,788 feet (1,764 m). The larger, younger volcano to the east, Haleakalā, rises to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above sea level, but measures 5 miles (8.0 km) from seafloor to summit, making it one of the world's highest "mountains". Looking into Haleakalā CraterThe eastern flanks of both volcanoes are cut by deeply incised valleys and steep-sided ravines that run downslope to the rocky, windswept shoreline. The valley-like Isthmus of Maui that separates the two volcanic masses was formed by sandy erosional deposits. Maui's last eruption (originating in Haleakalā's Southwest Rift Zone) occurred around 1790; two of the resulting lava flows are located (1) at Cape Kīnaʻu between ʻĀhihi Bay and La Perouse Bay on the southwest shore of East Maui, and (2) at Makaluapuna Point on Honokahua Bay on the northwest shore of West Maui. Although considered to be dormant by volcanologists, Haleakalā is certainly capable of further eruptions. Maui is part of a much larger unit, Maui Nui, that includes the islands of Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, and Molokaʻi. During periods of reduced sea level, including as recently as 20,000 years ago, they are joined together as a single island due to the shallowness of the channels between them.