NORMAL FAULTING 509 



which younger lava has poured in cascades, range in height from 10 to 

 1,000 feet and stretch along en echelon for many miles. One pronounced 

 hill, Puu Kapukapu, 1,035 feet in height and not far from the Keauhou 

 landing, either represents an old cone or a small horst which has persisted 

 during the collapse of the mountain flank on all sides. The flat summit 

 of the hill favors the latter mode of origin. In only one short stretch, 

 just west of Keauhou landing, do high escarpments bound the shoreline. 



Kalapana stands near the eastern end of the visible fault-blocks, al- 

 though the same structures may extend farther east beneath the younger 

 flows M^hich, as at Pahala, have overrun the mountain slope. ^^ The prin- 

 cipal escarpment lies 2 miles northwest of Kalapana, but faulting on a 

 smaller scale is observable at the village. This village is situated on a 

 small plain partly submerged in 1868 and is faced on the west by a 10- 

 to 20-foot fault-scarp, which is as fresh as if formed in 1868. The scarp 

 is intersected by another of equal height which bounds the shore. These 

 two scarps bound on the east and northeast sides a plain of which the 

 Kalapana plain was evidently a part, judging from the distribution of a 

 group of cocoanut trees northwest of the village, which is now half on 

 each plain. The uniform size and distribution of the trees appears to 

 admit of no other explanation than that they started to grow on a level 

 surface which has been disrupted within the last century. Dr. W. T. 

 Brigham sketched the Kalapana district in 186-1.^^ 



Catastrophic movements in 1868 which caused the southern part of 

 Hawaii to vibrate almost continuously for several months had their center 

 in a tectonic movement off the southern coast of the island, according to 

 Mr. H. 0. Wood's recent conclusions.^'^ At the time of one of the most 

 severe earthquakes the road near Waiohinu was shifted laterally 18 feet 

 and the southern coast of the island in Puna and Kau subsided from 6 to 

 8 feet, with accompanying waves which destroyed a li umber of lives. 

 Cocoanut trees and buildings were thus partially submerged and remained 

 standing in the sea for several years before being washed away.-^ In 

 this, the last important movement along the Kalapana-Keauhou fault- 

 scarps, the Kalapana escarpment was certainly steepened, if not largely 

 formed. A still later submergence along this line at Pohoiki, south of 

 Kapoho, is said to have accompanied the earthquake of September, 1908.^^ 



^■^ The youngest flow above Kalapana may be a branch of the 1840 flow. 



18 Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist, vol. i, pt. 3, 1866, p. 373. 



19 On the earthquakes of 1868 In Hawaii. Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., vol. 4, 1914, pp. 169-208. 



20 An uplift of the southerly point of Hawaii between Honuapo and the Kahuku flow 

 of 1868 is stated by W. L. Green to have apparently taken place and "the escarpment 

 of (this flow) now forms the boundary of the lower part of the flow of 1868" (op. cit., 

 p. 193), He also points out that on either side of this area, with a tendency to rise, are 

 the recent lava floods from Kilauea and Mauna Loa. No such escarpment could be ob- 

 served by the writer in sailing along the shoreline or from the beach at Kaalualu. 



21 C. H. Hitchcock: Op, cit. (1911), p. 263. 



XXXVIII— Bttll. Geol. Soc, Am., Vol, 28, 1916 



