Doug Kerr
Well-known member
Carla and I just returned from a lovely 15-day cruise to and around Hawai'i.
One of the most stunning sights we saw was the crater of the volcano Haleakalā, which actually (in its entirety) makes up about 75% of the area of the island of Maui. (It is, like all volcanoes in Hawai'i, of the shield volcano form, with a broad sloping cone.) The volcano is active but dormant. That means that there is still hot magma within it but that there have been no eruptions or other external lava flows for a number of years (certainly none during our visit).
From the rim of the crater (about 9750 ft MSL) one sees the most amazing view of the crater's current floor. The terrain is so extra-terrestrial in appearance that we understand it was at one time used to train astronauts in the appearance of the Moon's surface.
The crater is about 2600 ft deep below the rim.
This shot shows the just a small part of the amazing contrast in rock surface and coloration to be seen from just one vantage point, along with the cloud deck, which was in a very nice position during our visit.
Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 OS at 18 mm, ISO 400, f/16, 1/400 sec. Full frame ex camera except for downsampling and subsequent sharpening.
One of the most stunning sights we saw was the crater of the volcano Haleakalā, which actually (in its entirety) makes up about 75% of the area of the island of Maui. (It is, like all volcanoes in Hawai'i, of the shield volcano form, with a broad sloping cone.) The volcano is active but dormant. That means that there is still hot magma within it but that there have been no eruptions or other external lava flows for a number of years (certainly none during our visit).
From the rim of the crater (about 9750 ft MSL) one sees the most amazing view of the crater's current floor. The terrain is so extra-terrestrial in appearance that we understand it was at one time used to train astronauts in the appearance of the Moon's surface.
The crater is about 2600 ft deep below the rim.
This shot shows the just a small part of the amazing contrast in rock surface and coloration to be seen from just one vantage point, along with the cloud deck, which was in a very nice position during our visit.
Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 OS at 18 mm, ISO 400, f/16, 1/400 sec. Full frame ex camera except for downsampling and subsequent sharpening.