No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
In memory of Dr. Marlin Spike Werner (1927-2015)
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
In 2000 and 2001, two large (each ca. 1000 m long) cave systems have been surveyed on the eastern, heavily eroded, flank of Mauna Kea: The Pa‘auhau Civil Defense Cave and the Kuka‘iau Cave (at first called ThatCave/ThisCave System). Both caves occur in the Hamakua Volcanics, 200-250 to 65-70 ka old. They are the first substantial caves documented for lavas of Mauna Kea and the first caves on Hawai‘i showing extensive morphological signs of water erosion.
The Pa‘auhau Civil Defense Cave is a lava tube, as attested by the presence of the typical morphological elements of lava tubes, including secondary ceilings, linings, base sheets, stalactites and lava falls. Subsequently, the cave was modified erosionally by a stream which entered upslope and traversed much, but not all, of the cave, leaving water-falls, water-fall ponds, scallops, gravel, rounded blocks and mud (see paper by Kempe et al., this volume). In contrast the Kuka‘iau Cave – a still active stream cave with a vadose and phreatic section - is essentially erosional in origin. This is concluded from the geology of the strata exposed in the cave and from its morphology: At the upper entrance the cave is situated in a thick series of ‘a‘ā and the lower section was created by removing ‘a‘ā and diamict layers, therefore excluding the possibility that the cave developed from a precursor lava tube. Also, in its phreatic section, the cave makes several right angle turns and moves upward through a series of pāhoehoe sheets, unlike any lava tube. Furthermore, a base layer can be followed along which the major section of the upper cave has developed. Allophane and halloysite – minerals produced by weathering - helped in sealing the primary porosity of this base layer causing a locally perched water table. Water moving along this base layer on a steep hydraulic gradient through the interstices of ‘a‘ā and through small pāhoehoe tubes exerted a high pressure on the porous diamict of the lower cave, causing its erosional removal. Our observations of water erosional caves in lavas of Hawai‘i offer a new perspective on deep-seated water courses in volcanic edifices.
Hawai'i: a water-eroded cave (a new type of Lava cave in Hawai'i)
- Mauna Kuka'iau Cave
- Kea
Kuka'iau Cave, Mauna Kea, Hawai'i: a water-eroded
cave (a new type of Lava cave in Hawai'i). -11th
International Symposium on Volcanospeleology, 12-
- Azores May
May, Azores, Abstract Volume and in (2008)
Proceedings: 12th International Symposium on
Vulcanospeleology, Tepotzlan, Mexico, 2-7 July,
2006, Assoc. for Mexican Cave Studies, Bull. 19 and
Socieded Mexicana de Exploraciones Subterraneas
Bol. 7: 83-85.