Penguin Bank is the name given to a now-submerged shield volcano of the Hawaiian Islands. Its coral-capped remains lie immediately west of the island of Molokai, under relatively shallow water (see bathymetric map at the right).

Geology

The Penguin Bank volcano is part of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. It was one of the seven principal Cenozoic Era volcanoes that formerly constituted the prehistoric island of Maui Nui, along with West Molokai, East Molokai, Lānai, West Maui, East Maui, and Kahoolawe. The date of the last eruption is unknown. There is a visible appearance a landslide that may have occurred on the southern part of the Penguin Bank volcano, alongside the border the nearby Lanai volcano between roughly 300,000 to 700,000 years ago (unconfirmed). The probable cause for such a collapse is likely due to the massive amounts of erosion of the layers of basalt which were laid on unstable Pillow Basalt and loose sand that had built up in the earlier stages of the shield building process. It is reasonable to think this landslide had occurred when Penguin Bank was still above the surface.

Boundary area

Penguin Bank is about 20 mi long and 10 mi wide and less than 200 ft deep. The site coordinates are: NW (21.05°N, -157.7°W); NE (21.2°N, -157.4°W); SW (20.9°N, -157.6°W); and SE (21.05°N, -157.35°W).

Conservation

Plans to build wind turbines on Penguin Bank were called off in April 2009, because the site is located in the heart of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, requiring a lease from the then-active Minerals Management Service (MMS). However, the MMS would not issue leases within marine sanctuaries, effectively killing the project.