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Oahu, Hawaii
35. Oahu, Hawaii

The Island of Oahu, Hawaii, provides many opportunities to see the inside of a basaltic shield volcano because of the considerable degree of erosion of the Koolau Volcano. Here at a road-cut we see numerous volcanic dikes 0.5–1.0 meters wide that formed along the main rift zone of the Koolau Volcano. Similar dikes are almost certainly present within the rift zones of Kilauea and Mauna Loa Volcanos, and act as pathways for the magma as it moves from the magma chamber to the surface.

Photograph courtesy of P. Mouginis-Mark.

Right click here to download a high-resolution version of the image (8.45 MB)


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