Hawaii
State Gem: Black Coral
ACT 9 S.B.NO.411
A Bill for an Act Relating to the State Gem.
Be lt Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Hawaii:
SECTION 1. Chapter 5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
“State gem. The black coral is established and designated as the official gem of the State.”
SECTION 2. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
(Approved April 22, 1987.)
‘ekaha ku moana, a Hawaiian black coral. Image courtesy of the Garden Island.
Coral is an invertebrate animal that belongs to the group Cnidaria. Cnidaria also includes the well known jelly fish and sea anemones. Corals are a sessile organism, meaning that they live most of their life in one location, mainly rooted to the ocean floor. The coral animal, called a polyp, is a tiny organism that typically secrets a calcium carbonate "shell" around itself, like a clam. The accumulations of many of these shells is what most people think of when they think of coral. Neighboring polyps also secrete a shell and attached themselves to other polyp shells. This creates an apartment building type complex with tiny animals, each about the size of a nickel, living within each shell all attached to one another. Over time the animals die and new corals attach to the upper surfaces creating new structures. The coral animals themselves typically form a symbiosis with an algae called a zooxanthellae, where the algae creates the food from the sunshine and the corals eat the food. The corals then provide the algae with protection within their shell. Corals are generally found within fairly shallow and warm waters. These waters allow many corals to grow and the algae to create food. Over time the coral skeletons/shells can eventually build up and form a reef.
Black coral jewelry, genus Leopathes . Image courtesy of gem-a.com.
Black corals, an Order of corals known as Antipatharia, however have many features that are not "typical" of most corals. Black corals do not form calcium carbonate shells or skeletons, but they create a much softer protein and chitin skeleton. They also do not have the symbiotic zooxanthellae algae. This means that the black corals can live at depths far deeper than most corals, since they don't require the sunlight that provides energy for the algae to create food. They are therefore found at all depths the oceans, but are restricted to salt water environments. Since black corals are not able to obtain food from a symbiote, they must harvest their own food, and are active predators of zooplankton using their stinging tentacles to ensnare and kill them as they swim past. Black corals are also not often black in color, but range in a variety of colors including white, red, green, yellow, brown, and rarely black. The bright colors, as seen in the image above, come from the polyp itself. Once the coral dies, the skeleton, which is black in color, remains behind. Of the ~200 species of black corals found across the world, 15 can be found around Hawaii. To the ancient Hawaiians, the black coral was used as medicine. When ground up it was thought to cure lung issues and diseases of the mouth. In modern day, the black coral was frequently collected and polished for jewelry. However because of over collection and invasive species the black coral has become an endangered species. The Hawaiian government has since put protections in place to save the black coral by limiting which specimens may be collected.
Related: Florida State Stone - Agatized Coral; West Virginia State Gem - Fossil Coral
References
https://statesymbolsusa.org/states/united-states/hawaii
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/slh/AllIndex/All_Acts_SLH1986SS-SLH1987.pdf
https://www.icriforum.org/about-coral-reefs/what-are-corals
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral.html
https://college.unc.edu/2019/02/coral-marine-protected-areas/
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/06laserline/background/blackcoral/blackcoral.html
https://animals.net/black-coral/
https://www.airtohawaii.com/blog/black-coral-gemstone-aloha-state/
https://www.thegardenisland.com/2020/07/05/lifestyles/meet-ekaha-ku-moana-hawaiis-black-coral/
https://gem-a.com/gem-hub/gem-knowledge/a-connection-to-coral
Geology of Hawaii's National Parks
Through Pictures
(at least the one's I have been to)
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park
Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park
Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Visited in 2018
The Hawaiian islands are as geological as you could get. Before even going into my pictures, I need to give an overall background on the geology of Hawaii. All of the islands of Hawaii are volcanoes, with only the Big Island having active volcanoes on it. Hawaii is a special type of volcano known a hotspot.
Graphic depiction of the Hawaiian hotspot. Image courtesy of Clark Science.
The source of the magma for a hotspot is an area known as a mantle plume. This spot is essentially "fixed" within the Earth and doesn't move while the plates on the Earth's surface are all moving around on top of it. As the plate moves, the Pacific Plate in this instance, over the hotspot, volcanoes pop up out of the sea floor. As the plate continues to move on, the old volcanoes are pulled away from the hotspot source and die off, while new volcanoes are created. The hotspot is currently located beneath the Big Island and actually a bit to the southeast of the Big Island, where is a new island is currently being formed called Lō'ihi. Lō'ihi has the potential to become a new island or could possibly fuse with the Big Island. On the Big Island there are actually five subaerial volcanoes, of which three are considered active (last erupted in the last 10,000 years), Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. Within Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, we are only looking at Kilauea.
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Since Kilauea is a VERY active volcano, there are going to be volcanic features found within the surrounding landscape. Our first volcanic feature we found upon entering the park are the Steam Vents near the visitor's center. Here is an overview shot of the line of vents that you can actually walk up to.
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This is a close up shot of a couple of steam vents adjacent to the road. What happens is that groundwater is moving through the ground, and as it comes into contact with the magma is heated up and creates steam. The steam follow cracks within the rocks, which are fairly stable over time, hence the reason they are able to create fences around the vents. However an earthquake could easily shift the direction of the cracks, should it be large enough, altering where the steam is vented out of the rocks.
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As you drive up towards the main vent of Kilauea, you come across an overlook, looking down into the Kilauea Caldera. A caldera is a volcanic feature that is kind of like a bowl. As the magma within the volcano erupts, the magma chamber ends up being an empty space within the ground. Frequently this empty space will collapse down upon itself, creating an indented area known as the caldera. The caldera forms around the primary vent or crater, which is the area where the magma leaves the magma chamber to the surface. Once magma erupts onto the surface, it is then considered lava. In the image above you can make out the main Kilauea crater within the caldera on the right (west) side. This main crater is known as the Halema'uma'u Crater.
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Here is a zoomed in view of the Halema'uma'u Crater. You can see the steam rising up off of the actively erupting lava. Even though Kilauea was actively erupting here, there was not enough of an eruption to flow outside of the crater. This eventually changed when a couple of weeks after our visit Kilauea started to have massive eruptions further to the southeast.
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Even though the Crater Rim Drive was closed, we could still get a pretty good view of the lava erupting out of Halema'uma'u Crater from the overlook.
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We were at the park for so long, we were able to circle back to Halema'uma'u Crater and get this absolutely awesome shot of the crater all lit up by the lava at night.
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Here is a zoomed in view of the night eruption. The amount of light given off shows how much of the lava that is present but we couldn't see from our vantage point on the edge of the caldera.
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Despite Halema'uma'u Crater being the most awesomest thing ever and me never wanting to leave, there are tons of other features that we wanted to visit within the park. The hike we were able to do was for the Thurston Lava Tube. The entrance to the lava tube is pictured above. There are multiple types of lava flows and volcanoes depending mainly on the silica (quartz) content of the lava/magma. Kilauea is known as a shield volcano because the lava/magma that makes up the volcano is basaltic, meaning that it has a very low silica content. Silica makes a lava viscous, so this low silica lava is very thin and runny (low viscosity). It is also very dark in color due to the mineral makeup of the lava which generally has darker minerals and less lighter minerals (like quartz). A shield volcano is created when low viscosity lava continually erupts creating a volcano with a very low curve, like a shield. Although not pointed like a stereotypical volcano, shield volcanoes are among the largest volcanoes on earth. Mauna Kea, another of the six volcanoes on the Big Island, is considered the tallest mountain on Earth, when measure from the base of the mountain (which in this instance is below water).
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bove is a shot from within the lava tube. A lava tube forms when a stream of lava erupts from a volcano, typically only possible with the thinner, runny basaltic lavas, and as the stream is running the air cools and solidifies the surface of the stream. As the stream crusts over, the lava within the stream keeps running, as if through a pipe now. Eventually the lava will stop when the eruption stops and will flow out of the tube to solidify further downstream, leaving behind a lava tube.
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Here is a closeup view of the walls of the lava tube. Unlike limestone caves, a lava tube generally has nice smooth surfaces and lacks most of the ornamental features of a limestone cave like stalactites and stalagmites.
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Chain of Craters Road within the national park heads right to the shore, with stops along the way at a bunch of different volcanic features. Here is Pauahi Crater on the road. The three most recent eruptions at this crater were in May of 1973, November of 1973, and November of 1979.
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The road then crosses the 1969 Mauna Ulu eruption. There are two main types of basaltic lava flows based on how the lava erupts and the resulting solidified lava. The first type, and the one that is seen in the picture below and in the forefront of the image above, is pahoehoe lava. This lava ends up looks like ropey bands of smooth basaltic rocks once it is solidified. The other type of basaltic lava flow is a'a (pronounced "ah ah"). This basaltic lava flow is full of sharp, blocky pieces. It was literally named for the noise people made walking across it barefoot.
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A close up view of some of the pahoehoe lava flows.
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Another view of the 1969 Mauna Ulu lava flow. This time facing the ocean to the south.
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As the lava flows get older and start to break down, it becomes rather crumbly. Here you can see the remains of some smaller lava tubes as they collapsed down from time and erosion.
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Once you get down to the seashore you can a 550 year old lava flow wave cut by the ocean. Within the lava flow is a structure known as the Hōlei Sea Arch. The arch was carved out because of differing hardnesses of the lava created differential erosion, where some layers were softer and eroded faster than other layers.
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From the overlook, here is looking in the opposite direction with the Hōlei Sea Arch to our backs. Again you can see the wave cut action of the Pacific Ocean eroding away the 550 year old lava flow.
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While we were in Hawaii, my mother gifted me a helicopter tour of the volcanoes through Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tours. During the tour I was able to get a fantastic look inside one of the active craters. This time it was Pu‘U ‘Ō‘Ō crater, which ranks as the longest and most voluminous know outpouring of lava from Kilauea Volcano's East Rift Zone in more than 500 years.
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The eruption started in 1983 and has been continuing off and on since then, culminating in a collapse of the crater floor on April 30th, 2018. We visited the crater on March 29th, 2018, merely a month before the collapse of the crater. As you can see in the image above, there is still lava actively pouring into the crater at this time.
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Zoomed out shot of Pu‘U ‘Ō‘Ō crater. The active lava crater is the one on the left side of the image above.
Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park
Visited in 2018
The last of the four parks on the Big Island, happens to be the one directly next to the Kailua-Kona Airport. Each of the four parks are directly impacted by different volcanoes on the island with this park containing lava flows from the fifth volcano that I haven't talked about yet, Hualālai.
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Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park protects the native Hawaiian fishponds along the coast as well as other native features that come with living within the lava flow fields in this region of the Big Island. There are three different dates of lava flows represented within the park, all from the Hualālai Volcano, a volcano that is still considered active. Directly surrounding the visitor center is the youngest lava flows within the park. These, seen here, are dated from 1,500 to 3,000 years old.
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These basaltic lava flows are all generally 'a'a in structure. The two main types of lava flow types are 'a'a and pahoehoe. Although the same in chemical composition, during eruption of the lava there are two main types of lava that can be produced with different physical characteristics. Basaltic 'a'a lava flows, as seen here, are blocky and have sharp surfaces. They are named for the sounds people utter when walking on them barefoot.
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The other type of lava flow, seen here, is pahoehoe. Pahoehoe is a smoother lava flow that often forms a ropelike texture on the surface. Of the three main ages of lava flows within the park, this here is the second oldest lava flow, dated from 3,000 to 5,000 years old.
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Over time the lava flows stack upon each other. Here you can see the youngest lava flows (1,500-3,000 yo) lying on top of the second youngest lava flows (3,000 - 5,000 yo). Within the park you can also catch faint glimpses of small lava tubes (seen here in the older lava flow towards the middle of the photo) that have slowly collapsed over time. Lava tubes are formed from quickly flowing lava that crusts over by the cooling action of the air. The crusted over lava streams are then insulated and able to flow longer. Once the lava source is cut off, the lava in the tube flows out, leaving behind a basaltic lined pipe, aka a lava tube.
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The oldest lava flows within the park are located along the coast and date from 5,000 to 10,000 years old. These generally consist of basaltic lava, which are pahoehoe in structure. The lava flows also created tidal pools along the coast, allowing for the native Hawaiians to build their fishponds, such as the ‘Ai‘ōpio fishtrap seen here along the shore. The rock piles were likely created using the younger 'a'a lava flows, since the older lava flows are generally below the coastal sediments.
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Here is a recreation of a native hālaus, a long house, along the beach shore nearby to the fishponds.
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The trail along the shore contains many of the parks oldest lava flows (5,000 - 10,000 yo) pahoehoe structures standing out in sharp contrast thanks to the sand filling in the gaps between the ropey strands.
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Some more of the pahoehoe ropey structures along the shoreline trail.
References
http://npshistory.com/publications/kaho/nrr-2011-384.pdf
Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park
Visited in 2018
The second park we were able to visit while in Hawaii, was the more cultural park, that happens to sit upon a lava flow.
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Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park sits on the western wide of the Big Island of Hawaii, and is therefore isolated from the ongoing volcanic eruptions from Kilauea. The lava flows located here are from the Mauna Loa volcano and date from 1,500 to 750 years ago. The lava flow is named the Kau Basalt and is basaltic in composition (meaning they have essentially no silica (quartz) content). For the more geological minded the basalt flow consists of tholeiitic basalt, olivine tholeiitic basalt, and picritic tholeiitic basalt.
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The shoreline at the park varies with the majority of the buildings being located adjacent to a basalt shore platform with tidal pools a plenty. Tidal pools are areas that are generally sheltered from the waves and replenished with fresh water during high tide. The sheltering allows for tidal animals to flourish, such as corals, sea anemones, starfish, and other marine organisms, while the tides provides a fresh source of food for the tidal pool inhabitants.
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The lava flows associated with the Kua Basalt are typically pahoehoe in structure. This means they are generally smooth and have a ropey texture. The alternative is the a'a lava, which is much courser, blocky, and has a sharp surface. The ropey texture of the pahoehoe lava can be seen really well in many of the surface features, such as here.
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The lava flows are so prevalent within the island, that they are the primary building stone. Here the basaltic lava flows were carved into building blocks to construct what is known as The Great Wall, behind which would be the Pu'uhonua, otherwise known as the Place of Refuge.
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Rocks abound in this region, being used not only for building materials but also as tools. Here are the remains some of the mortar and pestles.
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The volcanic rocks are also used for game boards. Here is a game using dark and light colored pebbles, which are placed on a basaltic block. The block has divots carved into it is used for a game known as Konane.
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A little less geological, but important nonetheless, is the Hale o Keawe heiau, which is the only recreation of a hale poki (consecrated house) on the Big Island. Heiaus served as royal mausoleums, with the Hale o Keawe built for Keawe-i-kekahi-aliʻi-o-ka-moku in ~1700 CE. It was eventually torn down in the mid 1800's by Queen Kaʻahumanu. In the 1900's, efforts by the NPS recreated the heiau as closely as possible based on historic accounts, drawings, and other available information.
References
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1192/of2008-1192.pdf
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/kona/history9n.htm
Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site
Visited in 2018
The third park we were able to visit on the Big Island was the one furthest to the north on the western side of the island, nearby to the oldest volcano on the Big Island, Kohala Volcano.
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For the other National Parks on the Big Island, the entrance sign pictures I had taken had mostly been lost to storage issues, but luckily I still had this one. This one also includes the local volcanic basalt building stones.
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Within the picture above is the Pu`ukoholā Heiau, the largest restored heiau in Hawaii. Heaiu's are sacred temples for the Hawaiian people, and the Pu`ukoholā Heiau was built from 1790 to 1791 by Kamehameha the Great to fulfill a prophecy that if he were to build a temple here and dedicate it to the family's war god Kuka'ilimoku, that he would be able to conquer all of the Hawaiian islands and unite them.
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Pu`ukoholā Heiau sits at the crossroads of two volcanoes. Lava flows from both Mauna Kea and Kohala overlap within the park. The hill that the heiau sits upon is called Pu`ukoholā, which translates to "the hill of the whale", and is thought to be formed by lava flows from Mauna Kea. There is also the possibility that the raised hill itself is formed by a lava dome. Even though the temple sits upon Mauna Kea lava flows, it is thought that the rocks used to build the temple were transported from as far away as the Pololū Valley on the north flank of Kohala Mountain. Human chains were made 30 km long to transport the rocks from the valley to here. These basaltic rocks, formed from the lava flows of Kohala Mountain, are some of the oldest lava flows on the island, dating to 700,000 years old.
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Within the park there are two other heiaus as well. The one directly below Pu`ukoholā is the Mailekini Heiau. Here the same rocks were used to construct the temple. Within all of the temples though, the use of mortar was not used, creating structures that were temporary and would eventually decay with time.
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The third heiau on the site is actually no longer visible. It is the Hale o Kapuni Heiau located just off shore directly ahead. You can see some of the stones sticking out of the water within the harbor.
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Shot of the Mailekini Heiau with the larger Pu`ukoholā Heiau sitting higher up on the hill behind it.
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View of the harbor with the Hale o Kapuni Heiau sticking out of the water surface.
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Distant shot of the Pu`ukoholā.
References