Honolulu: Heart of Hawaii

Late in the history of the earth—25 million years ago—a series of cracks opened northwest to southeast in the floor of the North Pacific Ocean. In paroxysms of explosions, and sometimes in quiet but fiery rivers, liquid magma poured out of the fissures and became lava flows that formed mountains under the surface of the sea.

No human eyes saw this drama, nor witnessed the titanic battles that followed. The lava mountains pushed above the surface and were attacked by the elemental forces of nature—the wind and the sea.

In a glacial period, the rise and fall of ice caps on distant continents helped raise and lower the level of the sea. Yet despite the erosion caused by wind and water, the islands persisted. In time, the islands would remain like beads on a string across 1,500 miles of open ocean.

Then there was a time of quiet.

At some unrecorded moment the mountains blew up again, and volcanic activity resumed. Vast lava flows rampaged down the mountainsides, flowing and tumbling in dazzling pyrotechnics. More land was being born.

The battering of the waves and the hard force of a wind that blew steadily out[…]”

Excerpt From: Scott C.S. Stone. “Honolulu Heart Of Hawaii.” iBooks.