Our Quest for Green Sand

We were warned to expect strong prevailing winds, heat, blisters on our feet, and to take some power bars and plenty of water along. It would be a slow three-mile hike to the Green Sand Beach near South Point, but we were determined to go there and see for ourselves if there really IS such a sand or if this was just another island myth. At the outset of our trek the only green we saw were small patches of vegetation. What nutrients this tenacious flora could derive from the 'a 'a lava beds I'll never know!

"Are we THERE yet?" Phyl asked with a big smile. We had walked maybe around a quarter of a mile was all! This was not good. :-(

Lava fields to the left of us, lava and ocean to the right, and more lava straight ahead. I don't see any green sand. Do you?

"C'mon, dear. Just another mile or so. That sea cliff up ahead looks a little like the one I saw in the guidebook photo." Green Sand Beach here we come!

EUREKA! The Green Sand Beach, or Mahana, as most of the area residents call it. What's that you say? You don't SEE any green sand? Well, to be honest, you really needed to be there. I mean like right down on the beach with your feet buried in the sand. From way up high like this it had only a sort of brownish-green hue. But on the beach itself the sand was as green as an olive, which explains why the mineral that comprises most of this sand is called olivine.

Okay, I cheated here. This is a scan of a postcard I bought. Besides, I don't own an expensive fisheye lens that would give you a great shot like this. But at least the color is right and you can see there really IS green sand, Virginia. Now for the technical stuff: This famous Big Island beach is located at the base of Pu'u o Mahana, a littoral cone formed during an ancient eruption of Mauna Loa, our planet's largest volcano. The beach sand consists mainly of minute particles of olivine (peridot is another name) eroded out from the cone. Larger crystals of olivine can be found embedded within the abundant 'a 'a lava rocks that surround this beach. The process of erosion frees the green intact crystals from these rocks over time and the erosive process of the waves results in a natural placer-mining action that leaves behind large concentrations of the olivines to be deposited on top of the sand near the waterline.