Named for Pololu Valley 5 mi southeast of Hawi. Type section in northwest wall at end of road near coast [20 deg 12' 25"N, 155 deg 44' 01"W, Honokane 7.5' quad] Kohala Mtn, Island of Hawaii. Consists of 450 ft (at type) of thin-bedded highly vesicular aa and pahoehoe basalts, basaltic dikes, and cinder and spatter cones. Measured section on southeast wall of Waipo Valley is 891 ft. Stratigraphic chart lists maximum exposed thickness as 4000+ ft. Underlies with erosional unconformity and locally conformably Hawi volcanic series (new). Assigned Pliocene and older age.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Lavas are nearly all olivine basalt.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Type locality is northwest wall of Pololu Valley, Island of Hawaii, HI. Comprises lower slopes of much of Kohala Mountain at north end of island. Is Pliocene(?) age.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Estimated K-Ar age on tholeiitic basalt sample from Pololu volcanic series at Waipo Canyon gives not more than 800,000 yr B.P.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
"Paleomagnetic studies ... (1) All lavas now exposed on the Island [Hawaii] are less than 1 million years old (Pleistocene)." Samples from 138 m of lowest portion of measured section on southeast wall of Waipo Canyon were analyzed.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
K-Ar ages on tholeiitic samples from 5 lava flows of Pololu Volcanic Series from lowest part of section in Waipo Canyon yielded about 0.7 +/-0.15 Ma.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
K-Ar ages on 9 tholeiitic samples of Pololu Volcanic Series from Waipo and Pololu Valleys, roadcuts in Mahukona and Hawi yielded 0.447 +/-0.027 to 0.327 +/-0.045 Ma.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Name changed from Pololu Volcanic Series (Stearns and Macdonald, 1946) to Pololu Formation to conform with Code of Stratigraphic Nomenclature (Henderson and others, 1980).
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Pololu Volcanic Series (Stearns and Macdonald, 1946) renamed Pololu Basalt to indicate lithology. Is Pleistocene age on basis of K-Ar determinations (McDougall and Swanson, 1972).
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Pololu Basalt is redescribed as the Pololu Volcanics to better indicate its heterogeneous lithologies (basaltic and mugearite lavas). Age is Pleistocene.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
For more information, please contact Nancy Stamm, Geologic Names Committee Secretary.
Asterisk (*) indicates published by U.S. Geological Survey authors.
"No current usage" (†) implies that a name has been abandoned or has fallen into disuse. Former usage and, if known, replacement name given in parentheses ( ).
Slash (/) indicates name conflicts with nomenclatural guidelines (CSN, 1933; ACSN, 1961, 1970; NACSN, 1983, 2005, 2021). May be explained within brackets ([ ]).