Tuesday, August 13, 2019. Mauna Matters...

My mind is aswirl with topics, wonderings, musings, and other what-la.  Seems to be a busy time in many places, and keeping track of priorities can be challenging.  Our weathers here in Keaʻau ma uka have been, in keeping with the season, on the warm side for us.  Weʻve had moderate amounts of rain from Erick, and less from Flossie.  Bloomings continue, though lehua are nearly done.  Walking to Keanakākoʻi the other day, even though we saw all the yellow-flowered kūpaoa in full bloom, I was surprised and startled by the wafting of their elusive scent.  Lovely.  Ke māpu nei ke ʻala o ke kūpaoa [the fragrance of the kūpaoa floating in the breeze] from the Pukui and Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary.

I especially admire the twin curved pistils.  This plant is related to ʻāhinahina (silverswords), and sunflowers, and their seeds and waftable fluff develop in days it seems.  See if you can make out the rummaging blurry black bee.  This yellow-flowered one is a shrub, very common along the roadside to KKOI.  A cousin, with glossy dark green leaves and white flowers with a stronger scent is a groundcover on some lava flows.

And too, pūkiawe bloom with their pua liʻiliʻi (tiny flowers), extremely attractive to honeybees.  From a distance, there is but a slight change of color and texture at or near the branch tips, calling us to examine them more closely.

And already (!!!) the ʻōpelu in the yard are just budding for the season.  Readers on the Island of Hawaiʻi might search out this months Ke Ola Magazine, its cover art of ʻōpelu by Melissa Chimera.  Yup...it graces the wall near the top of the stairs (the print, not the magazine).

And, about those Mauna Matters.  At Kīlauea:

Here, we marvel and wonder at the jade-turquoisey blue-green of the pool accumulating on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu on Sunday, August 11, 2019, pond pics by USGS HVO staff... 

A similar view can be had by visiting the K3 Cam on the HVO website:

WebCam view into Halemaʻumaʻu

USGS HVO

here, telephotoed

USGS HVO

We see the accumulation of yellow sulphur, and other minerals, on the walls of the lua, precipitating out of volcanic gases.  Those same gases are contributing to the color of the wai welawela (hot water) of the pool.

On August 8, 2019, this photo, as explained in the online HVO caption, illustrates "agitation" of the water (the white dots)... perhaps bubbles from escaping māhu (steam and vapors)???

USGS HVO

Another sort of māpu, this time "bubbling, splashing, as water" from the same dictionary, if indeed those spots of agitation are because gases are escaping.  Makes sense to me, but we await confirmation from the good people at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

"For the First Time in Recorded History" has been repeated frequently regarding this phenomenon.  Iʻd be remiss if I didnʻt wonder "Whose recorded history, exactly?"

Does "History" need to be written to be recorded?  Me thinks not.  Hawaiʻi has an extremely rich oral history; traditions of knowledge passed from one generation to the next, by those trained in memorization of chant, stories, and so on.  Perhaps one example is "The Epic Tale of Hiʻiakaikapoliopele" by Hoʻoulumāhiehie & Nogelmeier, published by Awaiaulu.  Basically Books in Hilo has Hawaiian and English copies available.  GoGet!!!  Or visit the Awaiaulu website to order:

AWAIAULU

Pages 357 to 373 (more or less) of the above, describes the death of Lohiʻau, the lover of Hiʻiaka, a younger sister of Pele.  He was entombed by pele.  Hiʻiaka sought revenge by digging through various strata of Kaluapele, attempting to extinguish the volcanic fires of Pelehonuamea.

Hereʻs a kinda junk-quality sample.  Check out paragraph 4:

So maybe the water we see now isnʻt "cold spring water", but it is water... The Tale is lovely and richly complex, and might make good bedtime reading for both keiki and adults...  This version was published in Ka Naʻi Aupuni newspaper in 1906, and translated by Nogelmeier.

And about those "pools" I mentioned in a previous post...This from a 1917 reprint of "Journal of William Ellis, A Narrative of a Tour Through Hawaii in 1823".  Excellent excellent reading.

The paragraphs describe the area of Kūkamāhuākea (Steaming Flat), between the Kīlauea Visitor Center and Kīlauea Military Camp.  The pools donʻt exist today, and may, according to some geologists, have been waters impounded by lehu (ash) erupted in the violent 1790 explosions.  During 200 ensuing years, rains, droughts, winds, and earthquakes may have all contributed to disrupting ash layers, allowing waters to drain away.

And then, as posted previously too, was the legendary Kawaiakapāoʻo, the water of the goby fish...

Water ponds in the summit region of Kīlauea?  Mauna Matters.

And then between two other Mauna...We visit Puʻu Huluhulu and explore Matters relating to Maunakea.

Iʻve had the ability to be able to lend support and participate up there, sharing info about natural history at Puʻuhuluhulu University.  Hot dry, misty foggy rain, whatever the weathers folks are there.  Lots of folks.  Below from the publicly available Facebook page of Kanaeokana, taken, I believe, last Sunday, August 11, 2019, view toward Hilo.

The grey lava flow (I especially love the evenly textured ropy pāhoehoe in the foreground) erupted from Maunaloa in 1935, and as Pele was making her way to Hilo, vents were bombed in an effort to divert her.

HVO 072519 Volcano Watch: MLOA pele, 1935

The map below, by Trusdell and Lockwood, was previously shared.  The most recent and incredibly detailed geologic mapping of Maunaloa helps us make sense of whatʻs under our feet.  Or tent.  1935 is magenta, Puʻuhuluhulu is the white spot with "1580".

Geologic Map: Northeast flank of Maunaloa

Puʻuhuluhulu is fascinatingly awesomely cool.  Yes, often literally, but also figuratively...  It is a puʻu erupted by Maunakea during the "Laupāhoehoe Volcanic Series", sometime between 14,000 and 65,000 years ago.  But check this out... Maunaloa, during the Puʻukāhilikū flows, an average of 1,800 years ago, or so, apparently had a radial vent (one not on a rift zone) erupt through the middle of Puʻuhuluhulu, and blanket the cinder cone with pele... like a heap of shedded coconut enrobed in dark chocolate...mmmmm Mounds Bar!!!  

Maunaloa lava was peeled off so the Maunakea cinder could be mined and used in road construction, thus the steep slope facing the highway.

Below is the technical description of the Puʻukāhilikū flow...wade through it please, and glean tidbits that may be apropos...

And too, perhaps more familiar, a USGS topographic map of the same region.  Puʻukole, at the top, is one of several on our fair isle.  Another sits just across the Saddle on the lower flank of Maunaloa.  

"Kole" perhaps because slopes resemble the color of a favorite, delicious, reef fish, kole, with its fetching yellow eyes.

The puʻu Kole, the one on Maunakea, is important.  Itʻs one of the last eruptive vents on that mauna, say 4,500 years ago.  Itʻs also a marker of the boundary between the districts of Hilo and Hāmākua.

Puʻuhuluhulu lies in the district of Hilo, in the ahupuaʻa of Humuʻula.  Humuʻula starts offshore, just on the Honokaʻa side of Kaʻawaliʻi, the third horseshoe if one is headed up the coast.  There, Humuʻula is very narrow, then heads ma uka, and turns left, its ma kai (south) boundary cutting off Hilo ahupuaʻa, preventing them from reaching the heights.  The swath of Humuʻula ends on the shoulder of Maunaloa.  Big, broad, sweeping...  Weʻll share more about Mauna ahupuaʻa in the future and why they Matter.

But, as I often do, it seems, I digress...  Letʻs share about Kapu Aloha, a guiding principle of those gathered hither and yon in their passionate efforts to protect the mauna and address a multitude of other issues, of political and social import.  Four or so years ago, hoaloha Manu Meyer penned the following: 

Please read the above carefully and thoughtfully.  The few times Iʻve been to Puʻuhuluhulu in the past weeks, Iʻve been struck by the atmosphere, the energies vibrating at that place.  Calm, thoughtful, clean, organized, and most of all compassionate and kind (Uncle...You need help?  Uncle, hereʻs some food.  Uncle, you doing OK?).  No drinking, no smoking, no anger or swearing, no rubbish strewn about.  What an amazement to witness the evolution of those speaking their minds.  Four years ago, I wasnʻt too happy with what I observed and heard going on at Hale Pōhaku and further ma uka.  This time itʻs different.  People seem centered, determined, and steadfast.  And Iʻm happy that my small-kine activism has been reawakened.

Mauna Matters

With heart-felt aloha to all,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com