Places > United States > Hawaii > Volcano National Park
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Photo Credit: PD-USGOV-INTERIOR-USGS.
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In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawai?i Volcanoes National Park was designated as an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980 and a World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2000 the name was changed by the Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act of 2000 observing the Hawaiian spelling.
Environment
The park includes 323,431 acres (505.36 sq mi; 1,308.88 km2) of land. Over half of the park is designated the Hawaii Volcanoes Wilderness area and provides unusual hiking and camping opportunities. The park encompasses diverse environments that range from sea level to the summit of the Earth's most massive volcano, Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet (4,169 m). Climates range from lush tropical rain forests, to the arid and barren Ka?? Desert.
Active eruptive sites include the main caldera of K?lauea and a more active but remote vent called Pu?u ????.
The main entrance to the park is from the Hawaii Belt Road. The Chain of Craters Road, as the name implies, leads past several craters from historic eruptions to the coast. It used to continue to another entrance to the park near the town of Kalapana, but that portion is now covered by a lava flow.
History
K?lauea and its Halema?uma?u caldera were traditionally considered the sacred home of the volcano goddess Pele, and Hawaiians visited the crater to offer gifts to the goddess. In 1790, a party of warriors (along with women and children who were in the area) were caught in an unusually violent eruption. Many were killed and others left footprints in the lava that can still be seen today.
The first western visitors to the site, English missionary William Ellis and American Asa Thurston, went to K?lauea in 1823. Ellis wrote of his reaction to the first sight of the erupting volcano:
A spectacle, sublime and even appalling, presented itself before us. 'We stopped and trembled.' Astonishment and awe for some moments rendered us mute, and, like statues, we stood fixed to the spot, with our eyes riveted on the abyss below.
The volcano became a tourist attraction in the 1840s, and local businessmen such as Benjamin Pitman and George Lycurgus ran a series of hotels at the rim. Volcano House is the only hotel or restaurant located within the borders of the National Park. In January 2010 it was closed temporarily for renovation; as of January 2011 it had not yet re-opened.
Lorrin A. Thurston, grandson of the American missionary Asa Thurston, was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the park after investing in the hotel from 1891 to 1904. William R. Castle first proposed the idea in 1903. Thurston, who then owned the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, printed editorials in favor of the park idea. In 1907, the territory of Hawaii paid for fifty members of Congress and their wives to visit Haleakala and K?lauea. It included a dinner cooked over lava steam vents. In 1908 Thurston entertained Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield, and in 1909 another congressional delegation. Governor Walter F. Frear proposed a draft bill in 1911 to create "Kilauea National Park" for $50,000. Thurston and local landowner William Herbert Shipman proposed boundaries, but ran into some opposition from ranchers. Thurston printed endorsements from John Muir, Henry Cabot Lodge, and former President Theodore Roosevelt. After several attempts, the legislation introduced by delegate Jonah K?hi? Kalaniana'ole finally passed to create the park. House Resolution 9525 was signed by Woodrow Wilson on August 1, 1916. It was the 11th National Park in the United States, and the first in a Territory.
Within a few weeks, the National Park Service Organic Act would create the National Park Service to run the system. Originally called "Hawaii National Park", it was split from the Haleakal? National Park on September 22, 1960.
An easily accessible lava tube was named for the Thurston family. An undeveloped stretch of the Thurston Lava Tube extends an additional 1,100 ft (340 m) beyond the developed area and dead-ends into the hillside. Though it is blocked by a chain link fence to keep unwary visitors from entering, the easily traversed stretch is in fact open to the public and accessible through a gate in the fence.
In 2004, an additional 115,788 acres (468.58 km2) of Kahuku Ranch were added to the park, making it 56% larger. This was an area west of the town of Wai??hinu and east of Ocean View, the largest land acquisition in Hawaii's history. The land was bought for US$21.9 million from the Samuel Mills Damon Estate, with financing from the Nature Conservancy.
Geologic History: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park's is located on the island of Hawaii at the end of the 1700-mile stretch of islands. The islands are fairly young, only 1 million years old and new formations continue to be formed today. The islands are located on the top of the Pacific plate, the largest tectonic plate on earth. Due to sea floor spreading, the plate continues to expand which has directly influenced the growth of the islands. The two main active volcanoes in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Mauna Loa has an elevation of 13,680 feet and a 70-mile long, 30-mile wide shield-shaped dome. It is the world's largest active volcano, encompassing 10,000 cubic miles (www.nature.nps.gov/geology). Similarly, Kilauea also has a shield shaped dome, which is 50-mile long and 14-mile wide. Both volcanoes release more fluid and less gaseous eruptions, which produce “fiery fountains and rivers of molten lava” (www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/havo/index.cfm). Due to these eruptions, a desert-like volcanic landscape has resulted amidst the National Park.
Specifically, Mauna Loa has come to be the largest mountain on earth because of the multiple formations that took place during the Pleistocene Epoch. The Ninole Formation, which has left the oldest exposed lavas make up the core of the mountain. As a result, there are deep canyons that were made by lavas during the erosional period preceding the Kahuki Formation . During this second stage of formations, lava partially filled the canyons and built up the slopes of Mauna Loa. The third formation, Ka’u, created younger lavas that covered the older lavas. Through these three formation periods, Mauna Loa reached its current height at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
The development of the Hawaii islands is due to the five shield volcanoes that erupted during the Pleistocene Period. They are part of a volcanic chain located along the crest of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Similarly, glaciation and changes in sea level have effected the geologic formation of the Volcanoes in the National Park. A small icecap that once existed on the volcano of Mauna Kea during the Pleistocene Epoch that resulted in glaciers, and has led to snow falls on both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes. Additionally, changes in the sea level have resulted in land submergence and shorelines decreasing.
Historic places
Several of the National Register of Historic Places listings on the island of Hawaii are located within the park:
1790 Footprints
Ainahou Ranch
Ainapo Trail
Kilauea Crater
Puna-Ka'u Historic District
Volcano House
Whitney Seismograph Vault No. 29
Wilkes Campsite
Visitors Centers & Museums
The main Visitor Center, located just within the park entrance at 19°25?46?N 155°15?25.5?W, includes displays and information about the features of the park.
The nearby Volcano Art Center, located in the original 1877 Volcano House hotel, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now houses historical displays and an art gallery.
The Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, located a few miles west on Crater Rim Drive, features more exhibits and a close view of the K?lauea's active vent Halema?uma?u. The museum is named after scientist Thomas Jaggar, the first director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which adjoins the museum. The observatory itself is operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and is not open to the public. Bookstores are located in the main visitor's center and the Jaggar Museum.
The Kilauea Military Camp provides accommodations for U.S. military personnel.
Recent Events
On March 19, 2008, there was a small explosion in Halema?uma?u crater, the first explosive event since 1924 and the first eruption in the K?lauea caldera since September 1982. Debris from the explosion was scattered over an area of 74 acres (300,000 m2). A small amount of ash was also reported at a nearby community. The explosion covered part of Crater Rim Drive and damaged Halema?uma?u Overlook. The explosion did not release any lava, which suggests to scientists that it was driven by hydrothermal or gas sources.
This explosion event followed the opening of a major sulfur dioxide gas vent, greatly increasing levels emitted from the Halema?uma?u crater. The dangerous increase of sulfur dioxide gas has prompted closures of Crater Rim Drive between the Jaggar Museum south/southeast to Chain of Craters Road, Crater Rim Trail from K?lauea Military Camp south/southeast to Chain of Craters Road, and all trails leading to Halema?uma?u crater, including those from Byron Ledge, ?Iliahi (Sandalwood) Trail, and Ka?? Desert Trail.
Description from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
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