16 Facts About Mauna Kea

Ancient Hawaiians living on the slopes of Mauna Kea relied on its extensive forests for food, and quarried the dense volcano-glacial basalts on its flanks for tool production.

Mauna Kea can be ecologically divided into three sections: an alpine climate at its summit, a Sophora chrysophylla–Myoporum sandwicense forest on its flanks, and an Acacia koa–Metrosideros polymorpha forest, now mostly cleared by the former sugar industry, at its base.

The Mauna Kea Observatories are used for scientific research across the electromagnetic spectrum and comprise the largest such facility in the world.

Mauna Kea is unusually topographically prominent for its height, with a wet prominence fifteenth in the world among mountains, and a dry prominence second in the world, after only Mount Everest.

Lava flows from Mauna Kea overlapped in complex layers with those of its neighbors during its growth.

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Hilo Ridge, a prominent underwater rift zone structure east of Mauna Kea, was once believed to be a part of the volcano; however, it is understood to be a rift zone of Kohala that has been affected by younger Mauna Kea flows.

Shield-stage lavas that built the enormous main mass of the volcano are tholeiitic basalts, like those of Mauna Kea Loa, created through the mixing of primary magma and subducted oceanic crust.

Mauna Kea is the only Hawaiian volcano with distinct evidence of glaciation.

Mauna Kea is home to Lake Waiau, the highest lake in the Pacific Basin.

In Hawaiian mythology, the summit of Mauna Kea was seen as the "region of the gods", a place where benevolent spirits reside.

However, the earliest Western depictions of the isle, including Mauna Kea, were created by explorers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Mauna Kea has been the site of extensive archaeological research since the 1980s.

In pre-contact times, natives traveling up Mauna Kea were probably guided more by landscape than by existing trails, as no evidence of trails has been found.

At one stage reduced to a population of just 50 plants, Mauna Kea silversword was thought to be restricted to the alpine zone, but in fact has been driven there by pressure from livestock, and can grow at lower elevations as well.

Mauna Kea's summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation due to favorable observing conditions.

Mauna Kea's coastline is dominated by the Hamakua Coast, an area of rugged terrain created by frequent slumps and landslides on the volcano's flank.