Diamond Head is the name of a volcanic tuff cone on the
Hawaiian islandThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...
of
OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the State of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
and known to
HawaiianNative Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants...
s as
Lēahi, most likely from
lae 'browridge, promontory' plus
ahi 'tuna' because the shape of the ridgeline resembles the shape of a tuna's dorsal fin. Its
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
name was given by
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
sailors in the 19th century, who mistook
calciteCalcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 470°C, and vaterite is even less stable....
crystals embedded in the rock for
diamondIn mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is the second most stable form of carbon, after graphite; however, the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is...
s.
Diamond Head is part of the complex of cones, vents, and their associated eruption flows that are collectively known to geologists as the Honolulu Volcanic Series, eruptions from the
Koolau VolcanoKoolau Range is a name given to the fragmented remnant of the eastern or windward shield volcano of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It is not a mountain range in the normal sense, because it was formed as a single mountain called Koolau Volcano...
that took place long after the volcano formed and had gone dormant.
Diamond Head is the name of a volcanic tuff cone on the
Hawaiian islandThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...
of
OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the State of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
and known to
HawaiianNative Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants...
s as
Lēahi, most likely from
lae 'browridge, promontory' plus
ahi 'tuna' because the shape of the ridgeline resembles the shape of a tuna's dorsal fin. Its
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
name was given by
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
sailors in the 19th century, who mistook
calciteCalcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 470°C, and vaterite is even less stable....
crystals embedded in the rock for
diamondIn mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is the second most stable form of carbon, after graphite; however, the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is...
s.
Geology
Diamond Head is part of the complex of cones, vents, and their associated eruption flows that are collectively known to geologists as the Honolulu Volcanic Series, eruptions from the
Koolau VolcanoKoolau Range is a name given to the fragmented remnant of the eastern or windward shield volcano of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It is not a mountain range in the normal sense, because it was formed as a single mountain called Koolau Volcano...
that took place long after the volcano formed and had gone dormant. The Honolulu Volcanic Series is a series of volcanic eruption events that created many of Oahu's well-known landmarks, including
Punchbowl CraterPunchbowl Crater is an extinct volcanic tuff cone located in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the location of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific....
,
Hanauma BayHanauma Bay is a marine embayment formed within a volcanic cone and located along the southeast coast of the Island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. Hana means 'bay' and uma means 'shelter,' rendering "Shelter Bay" The "Bay" is a tautology: Hawaiians simply call this feature "Hanauma"...
,
Koko HeadKoko Head is the headland that defines the eastern side of Maunalua Bay along the southeastern side of the Island of Oahu in Hawaii. On its western slope is the community of Portlock, a part of Hawaii Kai...
, and Manana Island in addition to Diamond Head.
Diamond Head, like the rest of the Honolulu Volcanics, is much younger than the main mass of the Koolau Mountain Range. While the Koolau Range is about 2.6 million years old, Diamond Head is estimated to be about 200,000 years old and extinct for 150,000 years.
The eruption that built up Diamond Head was probably very brief, lasting no more than a few days. It was probably explosive, since when the cinder cone was originally formed, the sea level is thought to have been higher and the vent burst erupted over a coral reef. Another factor probably contributing to the eruption's explosive nature was that rising
magmaMagma [from Greek μάγμα, paste] is molten rock that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and may also exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles. Magma often collects in a magma chamber inside a volcano...
would have come into contact with the water table. The eruption's relatively brief length is thought to explain why the cone today is so symmetrical.
A nearby eruption that took place at about the same time as the Diamond Head eruption was the eruption that built the Black Point lava shield. Since the type of eruptions that built Diamond Head tend to be
monogeneticA monogenetic volcanic field is a volcanic field of small, scattered volcanic vents. These volcanic fields, containing numerous monogenetic volcanoes, are noted for having only one short eruptive event at each volcano, as opposed to regular volcanoes that have several eruptions from the same vent...
, geologists don't believe Diamond Head will erupt again.
Tourism and fame
Diamond Head is a defining feature of the view known to residents and tourists of
WaikīkīWaikīkī or Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City & County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii...
alike. The volcanic cinder cone is a United States State Monument. While part of it serves as a platform for antennas used by the U.S. government and is closed to the public, the crater's proximity to Honolulu's resort hotels and beaches makes the rest of it a popular destination.
A 0.75 mile (1.1 km) hike leads to the edge of the crater's rim. Signs at the trailhead say that the hike takes 1.5-2 hours round-trip, and recommends that hikers bring water and flashlights. Although not difficult, the signs also say that the hike is not a casual one: the mostly unpaved trail winds over uneven rock, ascends 74 steps, then through a tunnel and up another steep 99 steps. Next is a small tunnel (hence the flashlight) to a narrow spiral staircase (about 30 steps) inside a
coastal artilleryCoastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
observation platform built in 1908. From the summit above the observation platform both
WaikīkīWaikīkī or Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City & County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii...
and the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
can be seen in detail.
As symbol of worldwide recognition for the Hawaiian Islands, it is not surprising that the name Diamond Head is widely used for commercial purposes (see
Diamond Head (film)Diamond Head is a movie starring Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, George Chakiris, and James Darren, directed by Guy Green, and released by Columbia Pictures. The original music score was composed by John Williams, Hugo Winterhalter composed the theme, and Darren sang the title song...
and
Diamond Head (band)Diamond Head are a British heavy metal band formed in 1976 in Stourbridge, England. They were one of the leading members of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and are acknowledged by later bands like Metallica and Megadeth as an important early influence.-Early history:Formed by school friends in...
). Many souvenirs from Hawaii and surf shop logos across the globe bear the volcano's distinctive silhouette.
Interior
The interior was the home to
Fort RugerFort Ruger is a fort on the island of Oahu that served as the first military reservation in the Territory of Hawaii. Named after Civil War General Thomas H...
, the first United States military reservation on
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
. Also contained in the interior is a FAA operations facility.
Television show
There was a 1975 televised
game showA game show is a type of television program in which members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving problems usually for money and/or prizes. On some shows contestants compete against other players or another team while...
,
The Diamond Head GameThe Diamond Head Game was an American game show that aired from January 6 to July 4, 1975 in five-day-a-week syndication. Borrowing its name from a long dormant volcano on the island of Oahu, the series was hosted by Bob Eubanks and assistant Jane Nelson, and is the only game show that was taped...
set at Diamond Head. The host was the game show main-stay,
Bob EubanksRobert Leland "Bob" Eubanks is an American television/radio personality and game show host, best known for hosting the game show The Newlywed Game on and off from 1966 to 2000, where he was known for using the catch-phrase, "Makin' Whoopee".-Early life:Eubanks was born in Flint, Michigan, but was...
. Final contestants could step into a "Money Volcano" and catch flying bills of real money.
Other references
Areas of Diamond Head are also used while filming the television series
LostLost is an American serial drama television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney, Australia, and Los Angeles, United States, crashes somewhere in the South Pacific...
which is filmed entirely on location on the island of
OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the State of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
. Seen from the
Waikīkī BeachWaikīkī or Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City & County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii...
, Diamond Head looks just like the "black mountain" featured in
Lost. The biannual
TranspacThe Transpacific Yacht Race is an offshore yacht race starting off Point Fermin, San Pedro, near Los Angeles, and ending off Diamond Head Lighthouse in Honolulu, a distance of around . Started in 1906, it is one of yachting's premier offshore races and attracts entrants from all over the world...
race (held in July of odd-numbered years), finishes off of Diamond Head.
External links