Alofau (Samoan: Ālōfau) is a
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
on the southeast coast of
Tutuila Island
Tutuila is the main island of American Samoa (and its largest), and is part of the archipelago of Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific. It is located roughly northeast of Brisbane, A ...
,
American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...
. It is located at the eastern end of
Faga'itua Bay, six miles east of
Pago Pago
Pago Pago ( ; Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island. ...
, between
Pagai and
Amouli. It is home to
Alofau Village Marine Protected Area. It is an agrarian and traditional village. It is also a poor village with residents with low literacy and high unemployment rates. As of the
U.S. Census 2000, the per capita income was $4,357 and 67 percent of children were below the poverty line. 15.6 percent of residents were receiving public assistance. It is lauded as a kava place in the
Manu'a Songs. Alofau is located in
Sa'Ole County.
Alofau Volcano is a major named volcano on Tutuila Island, although it is sometimes regarded as part of
Pago Volcano.
Great surfing conditions can be found in
Faga'itua Bay near Alofau.
An Adventist congregation had been established in the village by 1956.
Geology
Alofau Volcano consists of thin-bedded aa and
pāhoehoe
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
flows, breccias, dikes, and tuffs exposed in a shield-shaped dome. The volcanic dome covers around 2,4 km
2. on the east side of
Faga'itua Bay. The volcano is built over a rift zone trending northeast–southwest. The lava flows are thinly bedded primitive
olivine basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...
s, dipping 10-20 degrees away from Alofau village. A dike complex is exposed on the road southeast of
Fagaitua village, while another 130 dikes are exposed in a promontory on the north side of Alofau. Large numbers of dikes are also seen south of Alofau village.
[Keating, Barbara H. and Barrie R. Bolton (2012). ''Geology and Offshore Mineral Resources of the Central Pacific Basin''. Springer Science & Business Media. Page 152. .]
Demographics
See also
*
Alofau Village Marine Protected Area
References
Villages in American Samoa
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