Environment

Hawaii's Beaches Shrinking

posted: 15 November 2009 10:18 am ET

What's Hawaii without its beaches? Well, tourist officials may be worrying about that with news that a fourth of Oahu's sandy shores have disappeared while more than half o Kauai's beaches are eroding, AP reports. The problem may get worse as seas rise, geologists say.

Hawaii is changing in many ways. Volcanoes constantly alter the landscape and even create new coastline. Lava from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has in recent years added about 500 acres of new shore.

On Oahu, non-native plants now number about the same as native.

Did you know Hawaii might have been formed as the result of an asteroid impact? Possible, but it was ultimately volcanoes that built the peaks sticking up out of the sea.

Read full story at Yahoo

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