Diamond Head is the name of a volcanic tuff cone on the
Hawaiian islandThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several 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...
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 U.S. 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. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
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 arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
name was given by
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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 380-470°C, and vaterite is even less stable.-Properties:...
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 less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
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 SeriesThe Honolulu volcanic series is a set of volcanic events on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The events, which have been dated to between 800,000 and 30,000 years before the present, created several notable island features, including Diamond Head, the Punchbowl Crater, and Hanauma Bay.The composition...
, 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 is a marine embayment formed within a volcanic cone and located along the southeast coast of the Island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands....
,
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
Mānana IslandMānana Island is an uninhabited islet located off Kaupō Beach, near Makapuu at the eastern end of the Island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. In the Hawaiian language, mānana means "buoyant"...
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 150,000 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 is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
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 Waikiki alike. The volcanic tuff 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. 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 lighted tunnel 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 Waikiki and the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
can be seen in detail.
The volcano is a symbol of the worldwide recognition of the Hawaiian Islands; because of this, Diamond Head is widely used for commercial purposes (see
Diamond Head (film)Diamond Head is a film 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 an English heavy metal band formed in 1976 in Stourbridge, England. The band is recognised as one of the leading members of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and is acknowledged by later bands like Metallica and Megadeth as an important early influence.-Early history:Formed by...
). Many souvenirs from Hawaii and surf shop logos around the world 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 U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Only a National Guard facility remains in the crater. An FAA air traffic control center was in operation from 1963 to 2001.
Television show
There was a 1975 televised
game showA game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
,
The Diamond Head GameThe Diamond Head Game is 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 since 1966, where he was known for using the catchphrase, "Makin' Whoopee"...
. Final contestants could step into a "Money Volcano" and catch flying bills of real money.
Other references
Areas of Diamond Head were also used while filming the television series
LostLost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
which was 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 U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
. Parts of the old Army base were featured in
Lost as an Iraqi Prison and a Scottish military camp. 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.
"Diamond Head" is the name of a song on the album entitled "
FriendsFriends is the fourteenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1968.As work on the album began in February 1968, Mike Love, a recent convert to transcendental meditation , departed on a two week trip to India to study TM further with his new master, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi...
" by American pop group
The Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
.
Diamond HeadDiamond Head is the first solo album by Phil Manzanera, issued in 1975. It was originally issued in the UK on Island and in US on Atco...
is the name of an album by Anglo-Argentinian musician
Phil ManzaneraPhil Manzanera is a musician and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music. In 2006 Manzanera co-produced David Gilmour's album On An Island and played in Gilmour's band for tours in Europe and North America...
.
External links