with a warm welcome, which made all of us feel comfortable. Her husband was a
teacher in the primary school while Maria remained at home to take care of her
guest house and their two children.
Usually, Maria waited for us when we arrived at the small airport of Mataveri.
The airport was built with U.S. funding and was adapted to receive the Space
Shuttle in case of emergency. The landing strip was a strait highway and the
largest size aircraft were able to land. The building for the travelers was relatively
small, and was disproportionate with respect to the size of the landing airstrip. We
arrived by plane on board a Chilean Airlines flight after departure from the town of
Santiago De Chile. Three times a week, there was a plane that went to Easter
Island and then continued on to Tahiti (Papeete). The Pasquean people (residents
of Easter Island) have relatives in Tahiti, located about 4000 km to the west, which
makes the airline very attractive for Polynesians wanting to visit family members
as well as for tourists.
We would put our luggage in Maria’s van and then be driven to her house
located on a hill about five minutes from the airport. Breakfast and dinner were
served during our stay. Usually they managed to serve a feast of lobster to us, as
well as home-cooked local specialties, which consisted of fish-based meals and
home-baked bread. The Easter Islanders speak Polynesian and Spanish but they
cannot read the writing that is found on the wooden or stone tablets left by the
early residents, copies of which are sold to the tourists. The Rapa Nui customs
have been transmitted orally for several generations, however the mystery of the
statues is still not yet solved.
The Island has a triangular shape. Each corner is formed by a large volcanic
cone, which represents the coalescence of several smaller (\500 m in diameter)
cones that have melded together to form the emerged landscape. The entire island
is volcanic in origin and built on an old crust less than 10 million years old. The
earliest and the latest eruptions on the island have been dated from 4 million to less
than 1 million years ago, respectively. Recent age dating indicates that volcanism
continued on Easter Island until at least 130 thousand years ago (O’Connor et al.
1995). The three volcanic cones that are visible on each corner of the Island are
responsible for the shape of the landscape. The crust on which the Island is built is
probably older, about 7 Ma if we extrapolate on the basis of the average rate of
spreading (5 cm/yr).
Easter Island is located at about 350 km to the east of the East Rift spreading
ridge of the Easter Microplate, which has been recently active. According to the
reconstruction of the Easter microplate (Naar and Hey 1991), the Easter Island
hotspot was formed about 3–4.8 million years ago near the southeastern boundary
of the Easter microplate, an area which is now marked by a fracture zone called the
Orongo transform fault (See Chap. 8). According to the hotspot hypothesis of
Jason Morgan (1972 and 1971), the Sala y Gomez and the Easter Islands are part
of a volcanic chain that was constructed when the Nazca Plate in the South Pacific
moved above a mantle plume and gave rise to a volcanic chain.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
311
teacher in the primary school while Maria remained at home to take care of her
guest house and their two children.
Usually, Maria waited for us when we arrived at the small airport of Mataveri.
The airport was built with U.S. funding and was adapted to receive the Space
Shuttle in case of emergency. The landing strip was a strait highway and the
largest size aircraft were able to land. The building for the travelers was relatively
small, and was disproportionate with respect to the size of the landing airstrip. We
arrived by plane on board a Chilean Airlines flight after departure from the town of
Santiago De Chile. Three times a week, there was a plane that went to Easter
Island and then continued on to Tahiti (Papeete). The Pasquean people (residents
of Easter Island) have relatives in Tahiti, located about 4000 km to the west, which
makes the airline very attractive for Polynesians wanting to visit family members
as well as for tourists.
We would put our luggage in Maria’s van and then be driven to her house
located on a hill about five minutes from the airport. Breakfast and dinner were
served during our stay. Usually they managed to serve a feast of lobster to us, as
well as home-cooked local specialties, which consisted of fish-based meals and
home-baked bread. The Easter Islanders speak Polynesian and Spanish but they
cannot read the writing that is found on the wooden or stone tablets left by the
early residents, copies of which are sold to the tourists. The Rapa Nui customs
have been transmitted orally for several generations, however the mystery of the
statues is still not yet solved.
The Island has a triangular shape. Each corner is formed by a large volcanic
cone, which represents the coalescence of several smaller (\500 m in diameter)
cones that have melded together to form the emerged landscape. The entire island
is volcanic in origin and built on an old crust less than 10 million years old. The
earliest and the latest eruptions on the island have been dated from 4 million to less
than 1 million years ago, respectively. Recent age dating indicates that volcanism
continued on Easter Island until at least 130 thousand years ago (O’Connor et al.
1995). The three volcanic cones that are visible on each corner of the Island are
responsible for the shape of the landscape. The crust on which the Island is built is
probably older, about 7 Ma if we extrapolate on the basis of the average rate of
spreading (5 cm/yr).
Easter Island is located at about 350 km to the east of the East Rift spreading
ridge of the Easter Microplate, which has been recently active. According to the
reconstruction of the Easter microplate (Naar and Hey 1991), the Easter Island
hotspot was formed about 3–4.8 million years ago near the southeastern boundary
of the Easter microplate, an area which is now marked by a fracture zone called the
Orongo transform fault (See Chap. 8). According to the hotspot hypothesis of
Jason Morgan (1972 and 1971), the Sala y Gomez and the Easter Islands are part
of a volcanic chain that was constructed when the Nazca Plate in the South Pacific
moved above a mantle plume and gave rise to a volcanic chain.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
311