GEOLOGIC QUESTIONS FOR THE MEGAPROBER

[megaprober]

honestly i just threw that number out randomly late last night. i didn't even know that was a scale. looking at it now i recognize it as a scale and yes the number are blocked out with a black spotch. sometime you get lucky i guess.

[sloan]

i guess i owe you a beer

[surfer9joe]

post the origional pic of the rock!

[LGREANZ]

its on page 2.

[surfer9joe]

I mean without the weight blacked out

[sloan]

For you doubting mustafas... ( I still can't believe mega's pure, dumb luck... or rather his skills as geologist. )

[surfer9joe]

ok, mega, what kind of rock is that?

[maleko]

maleko..just wondering if that's "volcanoes of the sea"? 'cause if there's some other books floating around i've missed i'm interested. not to be vain, but i've tried to read anything i can on hawaiian geology and aside from visits at UH i've had trouble finding anything new or up to date.

.

(in a not so serious & joking manner so i don't piss off anyone)... i've stumped ya! i'll gladly give you the answer over that beer

[megaprober]

the rock looks like good old genuine hawaiian basalt, the foundation of everything that is hawaii. once i saw the picture with the scale visible i nearly shit myself. next time i fly out west i'll bring a cooler with some brews i'd be stoked to share a brew with you regardless......maybe at yokes or "the dip" if its working. i may have to disagree with you about one thing though ladies panties, the right ones, may be the best thing in the world at times

[megaprober]

a quick answer to the earlier post about why i think some of the largest waves to be surfed may lie off the new england coast.
the gulf of maine is essentially a drowned river valley extending 600 miles or so out. within this bay there are numerous hills or mountains underwater that are now known as shoals. when the waves begin to exceed a certain size they actually begin to feel the edge of the continental shelf whicn in no aera exceed 600ft in the gulf. wave periods over 14 seconds will feel depth over this amount and a loss of energy occcurs which is why the east coast is often wave starved. the storms in this particilar area of the world are among the most powerful found anywhere due in part of the mixing of two very radically different waters the gulf stream warm and the labrdore current very cold. these storm have been knownto produce open ocean waveheights over 80ft. that hawaiian scale to us meaning these are the "backs". i have personally seen photographs from my good friend who was on a coastguard cutter that made a recue during that now famous storm of october 31st 1991...the perfect storm. there were two photos shot to get the point across. the first was what i thought was the horizon with this small line jutting up out of the water. the next shot made me shit an eggroll. the so called line was actually the radio antenae of the very top of a 575ft supertanker that was shielding a sailboat that was oviously in bad trouble. the tower i was told stood 135 ft above the the water. the deck reached around 80ft and the upper deck i'm guessing near 90ft. all decks were obscured by the horizon in front which was actually a wave. the tanker had to sit parallel to the oncoming waves because the captain was afraid that the tanker hull was going to crack. the trough of that set wave was nearly 90ft from trough to crest and large enough to remove the tanker from your line of site. he also told me that when the really large rouge waves would come they would have to gun the engines to keep the cutter from slipping down the wave and then throw it in reverse once the wave passed in order to not nose down the backside of the wave. the cutter was 250ft long. so with some reseach and good knowledge of the shoals a team could theoretically find an area that focuses the waves just right and it is possible to find waves with 60ft backs cracking somewhere near the continental shelf. problem is that the winds and conditions are rarely mellow and nobody wants to be around when they go bad. i honestly don't think any current marine devise would be strong enough to confidently say we can handle these conditions so a plane will need to be used.

[HMARK]

Mega P- Mahalos for all the information. This has gotta be one of the most innaressing threads to date. I keep on wondering when the input of valuable info is gonna stop.

Wanted to think up a question of something that would be of relevance to Surf, but nothing was coming to my addeled mind. So I got one of the "numbnuts" variety. I keep getting amzed by differences in the strata(?) of different levels on the aina. For example, I am as igorant as a pig in shit on Why the big change in make up of the rocks from atop Koko Head, down anyy of the flows, to the (sandy?) like change in the rockage down by like the Lanai look out?... Wind? Erosion? H20 receding?
Warming?

Another retarded question - How come can find all kind somooth river rock in Kamuela, by streams that seem mainland like, but none to the same extent around Oahu?

And last, but not least (?) - what is the cause for "blue rock" ? ...And why is it so dense/hard to break..

No beers, had enuf...

[Guest]

Just FYI..rust is not technically the reason the dirt is red on Oahu. The red color is from iron oxyhydroxides in the soil. And no, there will be no earthquake on Oahu or anywhere else near it. Hotspot island formation is not associated with fault-slip earthquakes like they see anywhere along a fault line (ex...California, Turkey, etc.)

[megaprober]

whoever has a doubt about earthquakes occuring in hawaii i suggest that you read this
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/earthquakes/destruct/1975Nov29/.

also hot spot volacanism in hawaii has nothing to do with subduction, obduction, or strike-slip faults associated with continental collision or plate movement. yes those places are cali or tukey or japan and dare i say the mississippi valley (site of one of the worse quakes ever). although oahu has nearly completed its active lifecycle, quakes do occur on other islands besides the big island... ie. the great maui quake in the late 20's or early 30's i can provide a date just can't remember it off the top of my head.

also. here is a link showing the chemical composition of hawaiian basalts.

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwl ... mical.html


pay particular attention to the 10-12% mineral composition called FeO or Fe2O3 this is iron. now here's a link to what happens to iron when it comes in contact with oxygen and/or water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric_oxide

the iron oxide is simply half the story. it occurs when iron come into contact with oxygen. the iron hydroxide involves water....accounting for the hydrogen ions pruduced during the reaction.

here's a third link.

http://web1.caryacademy.org/chemistry/r ... e/home.htm

on the right you'll see a reddish round object. this is the planet called mars. i put this here because i thought that it would prove that rust happens in nature not just on man-made objects and wouldn't you know mars is made out of basalt, not much different from hawaiian basalts.

ps no more "guess" posts in this column....please. its weak and i prefer to know who i'm answering to. it's just courtesy. thanks

[Rich]

Bud I got a solution to the red dirt, all the areas where theres dirt pave it! Or never let yer kids out! haha nah, by the way do you ever surf anymore? That Maleko guy is kewl yeah! hahaha

[HMARK]

I keep getting amzed by differences in the strata(?) of different levels on the aina. For example, I am as igorant as a pig in shit on Why the big change in make up of the rocks from atop Koko Head, down anyy of the flows, to the (sandy?) like change in the rockage down by like the Lanai look out?... Wind? Erosion? H20 receding?
Warming?

Another retarded question - How come can find all kind somooth river rock in Kamuela, by streams that seem mainland like, but none to the same extent around Oahu?

And last, but not least (?) - what is the cause for "blue rock" ? ...And why is it so dense/hard to break

Uh = I was seriously asking the ?'s if 'n you got the time....