Punaluu black sand beach, Hawaii 1980

Punaluu Bay, on the southeastern coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, has a famous black-sand beach formed when molten lava reached the ocean, cooled rapidly and exploded into tiny black fragments that make up the black sand. Once the site of a major traditional Hawaiian settlement, and then a sugar port, Punaluu is now a popular tourist spot and is a refuge for green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles. This image is a close-up of the black sand beneath cocount palms on the beach with white wave foam.