Nature
Mauna Kea, a dormant shield volcano on Hawaiʻi, is the state’s highest point at 13,803 feet above sea level and rises even more dramatically from the Pacific floor, leading some to regard it as the world’s tallest mountain. Formed over the Hawaiʻi hotspot about one million years ago, it became dormant after eruptions ended roughly 6,000 to 4,000 years ago. Its steep summit features cinder cones instead of a visible caldera, and its upper slopes preserve rare Hawaiian evidence of past glaciation. Long sacred in Hawaiian tradition and historically used for forest resources and stone tools, Mauna Kea is also a leading astronomical site whose observatories have intensified debate over science, ecology, and Native Hawaiian reverence for the mountain.
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Paauilo, Hawaii · United States
