06/13/2026
Aloha from the Big Island!!🏝️
Have you ever seen a GREEN Sand Beach!?💚🏖️💚
Did you even know that one existed?
Fun Fact : Green Sand Beaches are the rarest of the colored beaches.
In Hawaii…Everything is Possible!😎💚
Puu Mahana, Green Sand Beach, is located in the Kau’ district. It is primarily located on the slopes of Mauna Loa, the world’s largest and most massive active volcano on the southwestern part of the island.
To get to this beach, one must either use a four wheel drive or hike six miles from South Point, Ka Lae, the southernmost tip of the United States.
The beach formed by the erosion and concentration of olivine crystals derived from the surrounding cone. The volcanic cone is Puu Mahana and it is a tuff ring (a type of volcano formed by the interaction of magma and shallow groundwater).
The cone is associated with the Southwest Rift Zone of Mauna Loa (although the cone is not right on the rift). Mauna Loa flow can contain abundant olivine crystals. As ocean waves crashed against the coast they wore away at the cone and made a small bay along the coast. The waves also removed the lighter grains of sand (made of volcanic ash) leaving the denser olivine crystals behind to form the beach.
Pretty cool…huh?!?🤪
So next time you’re on the Big Island…make sure to add this to your To-Do list!!💯💚
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