1 Comment May 20th, 2010

What was the name of the island that had Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe and Molokai?

DRD asked:


I was told by a ranger on the Big Island that it used to be one big island. What was it called.

And why is it 4 islands now? Did the big island sink, or did the ocean level rise? (or how much of both?)

Thanks.
The current islands were peaks on the one large island.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Molokai Hawaii. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “What was the name of the island that had Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe and Molokai?”

  1. misen55 Says:
    May 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 am

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    At one time, it is said, the islands were part of one large island known as Maui Nui.
    —
    About 300,000 to 400,000 years ago, Maui Nui, which grew from west to east, subsided to form two islands, one consisting of Penguin Bank, Moloka’i, and Lanai, and the other consisting of Maui and Kaho’olawe. Kaho’olawe then separated from Maui, and finally Lanai separated from Moloka’i, both within the last 100,000 to 200,000 years. Penguin Bank probably submerged within the last several hundred thousand years.