Final Hainan Assessment for the Future

Today's topographical map of Hainan showing majority of
Hainan is mountainous

Hainan is home to a very tourist-friendly, tropical island that has many unique geographical  landforms such as the National Volcano Park that takes people inside extinct and dormant volcanoes. With Hainan being an island, the beaches along the coastlines are breathtaking  maintain the appeal to tourists with mountains nearly bordering the waters from the oceans, creating a distinct feature for the small country of Hainan. In the center of Hainan towers the Wuzhi Mountains that includes the unique Five Fingers mountains stacked side-by-side with various cultural  tales of their origins.

The Hainan fog is so dense that the fog can leave puddles several
millimeters in depth. The fog can decrease visibility to just 50 meters

Upon learning some of the basic geographical facts of the world,  I believe that in 10,000 years Hainan will look similar to what it looks like today, however I predict that the island will be a little smaller in size. With today’s constant rise in sea level, it is predicted that in 10,000 years the glaciers will completely melt, raising the sea level up 3 to 4 meters. Along with the sea levels raising water table, Hainan’s annual fog can contribute to increased flooding and disappearance of Hainan. The annual fog today can allot several millimeters of water on the ground and in 10,000 years, that number could increase due to a higher water table from glacial melting. With Hainan being an island, the coastline will be raised, creating a higher beach along the bases of mountains. As part of tectonic shifts, I believe the mountains will have a small growth of roughly 5 meters since it is in the center of the lower right corner of the Eurasian plate.

Hainan is part of the bottom right of the Eurasian Plate in-between the Indian and Philippine Plate

Landslides could become serious threats with the increase of wet seasons

Based on recent developments, I believe that in a million years Hainan and Earth all together will become inhabitable leaving Hainan to become overwhelmed with nature and vegetation. It is believed that in a million years Earth will undergo a supervolcanic eruption, wiping out life. As a result, Hainan will become a rocky volcanic island. With over 58 volcanoes masking the small island, the super eruption can trigger these volcanoes to erupt, and deface Hainan. The lava would destroy vegetation inhabiting the volcano sides along with destroying rainforests. However, if Hainan’s tropical climate is still present, and there is no climate shift, the heavy rainfall and annual fog would help solidify the lava, elevating the height of the island. As the land’s elevation will increase due to the lava, the mountains will become flatter with the constant weathering taking place. Over the years, the heavy rain and annual fog will take its toll on the land, causing landslides, and even collapsing the folktale Five Fingers mountains.


This map highlights the coral reefs near Hainan, China
with  a coral reef developing around Hainan

In 100 million years, Hainan could become even flatter and possibly become a coral reef if the organisms can still thrive. Since weathering and erosion will constantly happen, Hainan will become flatter and the nutrient runoff from the island will feed coral larvae. Hainan might be in the fringing or barrier stage since weathering and erosion may take awhile.

 

Sources:

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/tectonic.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

http://www.haikou.climatemps.com/map.php

http://english.chinatibetnews.com/Gallery/attachement/jpg/site2/20091117/00248183e0130c6c521d57.jpg

http://www.coralcoe.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/27Dec-press-release-297x300.jpg

The Climate and its Devastation

 

Heavy fog forms in the capital city of Haikou, Hainan

Hainan has both a tropical/subtropical climate with different sub variations inside the island. Tropical climates have abundant amounts of rainfall due to active vertical uplifts forcing warm air over cold fronts, creating stormy cumulonimbus clouds. In the capital, Haikou, there is a humid subtropical climate where it is characterized as both hot and humid during the summers, and cool or mild during the winters. In other parts of the island, they have a tropical monsoon climate where wet and dry seasons are clearly different. The dry seasons (Winter & Spring) are relatively dry with rare rainfall, while the wet seasons (Summer & Autumn) receive extreme amounts of rain. The temperatures in Hainan don't vary much, averaging between 73°F to 79°F and receiving around 2,000mm of rain annually. From January to February, there is an annual fog caused by the colder winter air of China making contact with the warmer sea surrounding Hainan. The cold-air advancement causes evaporating moisture from the sea to condense into a thick fog called steam fog.


Super Typhoon Haiyan in false color to show the intensity (Category 5) Nov. 2013

Even though Typhoon Haiyan (2013) didn't strike Hainan directly, Hainan was on the right
side of the typhoon which has the strongest winds that caused damage killing six people.

 

The path of Typhoon Kalmaegi shows that Hainan was hit, lying
on the left weaker side of the typhoon.

On September 16 2014, Hainan was slammed by typhoon Kalmaegi killing at least 8 people and evacuating over 90,000 people in Hainan's eastern coast alone. Typhoon Kalmaegi began Sept. 11th, forming as a tropical depression which is the first stage of a typhoon where there is a lowered pressure in the water and thunderstorms begin to group together. A day later, the winds picked up reaching over 39 mph and forming a tropical storm where the storm gains its rotation and picks up wind speed. After another day, the tropical storm finally transforms into a typhoon, gaining energy and becoming a category one typhoon before reaching Hainan three days later. After a typhoon, the intense rainfall and storm surges lead to intense flooding in Hainan.








Hainan becomes flooded after Typhoon Kalmaegi

Sources:
http://www.ecoca.ro/meteo/tutorial/climate/older/tropical_climate.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan#Climate
http://www.chinahighlights.com/hainan/weather.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_monsoon_climate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humid_subtropical_climate

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/typhoon-hits-china-s/1364694.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Kalmaegi_(2014)
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp201415.html?
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/jkl/?n=fog_types

The Decay into Beauty



These mountains show different joints on the rock pillars
which could be created by water instead of wind due to the
rocks being much more jagged than smooth. There are also
signs of different elements present inside of the rock
pillars showing different signs of oxidation along with
root decay with the vegetation growing on top of the pillar.

To begin, weathering is the process of decaying or breaking down rocks and landforms over time, while erosion is the transportation of said weathered materials. These two processes go hand-in-hand not to form mountains or landforms, but to add definition to them. On the island of Hainan, the weather is a tropical marine climate with dry springs and heavy rainfall for the rest of the seasons. High temperatures in the summer create heavy rainstorms, causing different weathering and eroding processes to take place all over the island. The heavy rainfalls can then penetrate into small joints (cracks) in the Earth's crust, creating expansion decay where materials expand with water, cracking the surrounding crust. Another physical decaying process that occurs is the constant wetting and drying of rocks which can crack rocks or break off pieces of mountains or volcanoes, forming immersive joints and colluviums, which are angular-sloped materials or rocks. With Hainan having a high amount of vegetation on the island, root decay is a very capable physical decay process that inhabits the land. As different trees and plants grow, whether on a mountain or around man-made objects, the roots dig into rocks, expand, and break the rock from inside. With weathering constantly weakening mountains, mass wasting or landslides become hazards in Hainan leading to gravity eventually grabbing and tearing down pieces of land along with mud and colluviums.


This image displays how mass wasting may occur with a weakened land
over time due to weathering and erosion such as root decay along with water-based
decays such as expansion decay. Small pieces of colluvium can be seen as well

Soils on the island should include both andisol soils and mollisol soils. Andisols are soils that form around volcanoes from the ashes and other materials that expel from the surrounding volcanoes. There should be small traces of the andisol soils in Hainan due to the fact that the volcanoes on the island are either dormant or extinct; hence no recent eruptions to deposit the volcanic ash soils. With Hainan's high vegetation, mollisol soils must be present, providing nutrient-rich soil in the A-horizon.



Vegetation in Mount Diaoluo Forest Park with trees that can have thick roots, penetrating the ground and various rocks causing root decay.

This picture shows the vast amounts of land in which vegetation inhabits, even on mountains, where root decay can take place.

Sources:
http://luketyburski.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/wuzhi-mountain.jpg
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/hainan/haikou/wuzhi-mountain.htm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/typhoon-hits-china-s/1364694.html
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/climate/haikou.htm

These pillars display joints all over the landform and possible mass wasting could have occurred based on the lower portion of the structure missing a piece of its base. Water could have gotten into the different joints, weathered and eroded, weakening the landform causing gravity to break off the lower portion of the pillar.

The Volcanoes of Hainan

 



Entrance to Hainan Volcano-themed National Geo-Park

On the small island of Hainan, over half of the northern portion of the country is inhabited by a volcanic field. There are 58 total volcanoes in the area, with most of them being pyroclastic cones in structure, formed between the timescales Pleistocene to Holocene. Most of the volcanoes on the island are extinct, however, this does not rule out the fact that any of these volcanoes can still erupt.



Inside a Volcanic Cave with Lava Illuminating the Walls

The typical eruption style of the Hainan volcanoes in this field are effusive eruptions which means they are characterized by outpouring lava instead of exploding.By the volcanoes being effusive, it means the magma under the island is very hot, basalt-based with a low silica content and low viscosity; making the magma very runny and coherent with any down slopes. Only two eruptions have been recorded in history with both being fissure eruptions in 1883 and 1933. Fissure eruptions are usually linear volcanic vents or cracks where lava flows out from the volcano rather than possessing violent explosive activity due to a high silica content.

Vegetation shows how long these volcanoes have been extinct
with some volcanoes last erupting 65,000 yrs ago.

With Hainan being so rich with volcanoes, there is a very scenic volcano-themed National geo-park in the Hainan capital of Haikou. Even though Hainan only has an area of nearly 13,700 sq miles, the island of Hainan does house nearly every variety of volcanoes in the world, making it an even bigger attraction to the world. The volcanoes in the National geo-park are well-preserved with many different volcanic caves, vegetation, soils, mineral waters, and hot springs which draw many tourists to the island of Hainan and leading to a stronger economy for the country. Regardless of the potential hazards such as gases or eruptions from volcanoes, Hainan has a strong, healthy ecology with pleasing climate temperatures, fresh air, clean spring waters, beaches, etc; which all fuse well with tourists and residences alike.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Volcanic_Field
http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Fissure.html
http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ks3/gsl/education/resources/rockcycle/page3599.html
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/hainan_dao.html
http://www.sanyaweb.com/sight_haikou_volcano_park.html
http://www.globalgeopark.org/aboutGGN/list/China/6409.htm
http://www.whatsonsanya.com/sanya-info-970.html

This is my blog for my Physical Geography 1202 created by Brendan Luu




Hainan from Space

Hainan is the smallest island, along as the southernmost province of China located in the South China Sea. Originally being a part of the Guangdong Province before 1988, Hainan became its own province that year, separated from mainland China by a short 30km-wide strait.



Hainan (Red) in Relation to China




Hainan Volcano Park In the Capital, Haikou

The reason behind my choice towards Hainan in Southern China was because it is my family's place of original decent. We speak a small Chinese dialect called Hainan which as a kid, I was always so interested in my heritage, and had an urge to learn more about my roots. Hainan is an extraordinarily beautiful island in China, with the beaches making it a highly-ranked destination for tourism. 5-star hotels accompany the beach fronts; however, Hainan has its share of Physical Geography to go around such as, volcano fields, mountains, an annual fog, and typhoons.

In only the introduction for this course, I have already learned so much about my country which was a surprise to me by just by typing "hainan" into Google. I came in with a mindset that it is going to be tough to find physical geography on a small island for my blogs but I was too quick to judge.



Hainan Beach with eroding rocks along the bank

 

 

 

 

Sources:

   Basic Info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan
   Hainan - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Hainan_tmo_07feb05_250m.jpg
   Map - http://mapsof.net/map/china-hainan-location-map
   Volcano - http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/172516.htm
   Beach - http://adventure-guide07.blogspot.com/2013/04/travel-destinations-east-coast-hainan.html