page_title: Marquesas Islands
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Marquesas Islands / Geography / Geology
caption_attribution_description: Hatiheu Bay, Nuku Hiva (French Polynesia) So, I just got back from a two week trip to the island of Nuku Hiva (part of French Polynesia, in the South Pacific). It's a pretty beautiful place!! In 1846, Herman Melville (writer of Moby Dick) wrote about his experience on the island in his novel Typee, and had this to say about the island's beautiful landscape: "Very often when lost in admiration at its beauty, I have experienced a pang of regret that a scene so enchanting should be hidden from the world in these remote seas, and seldom meet the eyes of devoted lovers of nature." I wanted to travel light, so I didn't bring my SLR and tripod.. but I did get a chance to try out my new Canon G10, and I think this is one of the best photos I took on the trip. This scene was a little different from the next photo I took, since the sun was not shining on that rock formation.
context_page_description: The Marquesas Islands are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9.7812° S, 139.0817° W. The highest point is the peak of Mount Oave on Ua Pou island at 1,230 m above sea level.
  Archaeological research suggests the islands were colonized sometime after the 9th century and before the 11th century AD by indigenous voyagers from West Polynesia. Over the course of subsequent centuries, these settlers developed a "remarkably uniform culture, human biology and language."
  The Marquesas Islands form one of the five administrative divisions of French Polynesia. The capital of the Marquesas Islands administrative subdivision is the town of Taiohae, on the island of Nuku Hiva. The population of the Marquesas Islands was 9,346 inhabitants at the time of the August 2017 census.
context_section_description: The bulk of the Marquesas Islands are of volcanic origin, created by the Marquesas hotspot that underlies the Pacific Plate. The Marquesas Islands lie above a submarine volcanic plateau of the same name. The plateau, like the islands, is generally believed to be less than 5 million years old, though one hypothesis has the plateau (not the islands) as significantly older and having a mirror image, the Inca Plateau, subducting under northern Peru.
  Except for Motu One, all the Marquesas are high islands. Motu One is a low island, comprising two small sand banks awash on a coral reef. Unlike the majority of French Polynesian islands, the Marquesas are not surrounded by protective fringing reefs. Except for Motu One, and in bays and other protected areas, the only other coral in the Marquesas is found in a rather strange place:  on the top of the island of Fatu Huku. The South Equatorial Current lashes the islands mercilessly, which has led to sea-caves dotting the islands' shores. Except for where the valleys empty into the small bays, the islands are remarkable for their mountain ridges, which end abruptly as cliffs where they meet the sea. The islands are estimated to range in age from the youngest, Fatu Hiva (1.3 million years) to the oldest, Eiao (6 million years).
caption: Basaltic rock formation in Hatiheu, Nuku Hiva island.
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