Green sand beach

Papakolea Beach, also known as Green Sand Beach or Mahana Beach, is located near South Point, on Ka’u Island, Hawaii.

It is one of only four green sand beaches in the world, and the other three are in Norway and in the Galapagos.

The color of the olive green sand comes from the presence of a greenish semi-precious stone called olivine that came to the beach from Pu’u Mahana, a 49,000-year-old nearby volcano.

Olivine is denser and heavier than other sand crystals, which is why it settles on the beach while the usual volcanic sand ‘saps’ the sea.

The constant erosion of the volcano ensures a constant influx of green sand in the foreseeable future, and when the volcano stops its activities, after a while Papakolea will look like any other beach in the world.