In Hawaiian Haleakala means “House of the sun.” Haleakala National Park is located in the island of Maui, Hawaii. “Maui’s two eroded volcanoes, Haleakala and West Maui, were once part of a large volcanic massif made up of six major volcanoes. When sea level was lower, during the coldest times of the Pleistocene Epoch, the six volcanoes formed one island.” Haleakala is a part of the Kea trend of volcanoes that includes West Maui, Mauna Kea and Kohala volcanoes.
During the Pliocene, Haleakala did not exist yet. “In the late Pliocene time, the shields of six volcanoes were built up above sea level from basaltic lava foundation on the ocean floor.” These volcanoes erupted above from the ocean floor and build up shields of accumulations of pahoehoe and aa flows, these are the Honomau formation. “In the earliest Pleistocene times, flows of the Honomanu formation, many thousands of feet, thick, constructed the bulk of the East Maui volcano. West Maui, which was older, was built up by similar outpourings. Rocks of both volcanos consisted of tholeiitic basalt
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The third rift zone that extends northward from the summit did not reactivate. After this there was a great unconformity that caused Landslides, canyons being cut and amphitheaters being developed including Haleakala Crater and mass wasting. The last time Haleakala “erupted” was 1790 in small eruptions during the Holocene “The lava flows, ash falls, and cinder cones of the Hana Formation that erupted after the erosional period are conspicuous on the floor of the crater. The surface of the most recent flows in the crater area and on the southwest rift zone is fresh and only slightly weathered, indicating that at least some eruptions occurred a few hundred years ago.” Haleakala is now a dormant