Gardner Pinnacles

Gardner Pinnacles
The Gardner Pinnacles
Waters	Pacific Ocean
archipelago	Northwest Hawaii Islands
Geographical location	25 ° 1 ′  N , 167 ° 59 ′  W Coordinates: 25 ° 1 ′  N , 167 ° 59 ′  W
Number of islands	2
Main island	Big rock
Total land area	0.024 km²
Residents	uninhabited
map

The Gardner Pinnacles ( Hawaiian : Pūhāhonu ) are two remote, uninhabited rock islands , Big Rock and 80 meters northwest of it Little Rock , which jut steeply out of the Pacific Ocean . They are located about 950 km northwest of Honolulu on Oahu and represent the most difficult to access land mass within the northwestern Hawaiian island chain .

The up to 52 m high cliffs have only a small land area with 24,035 m² (0.024 km²); however, the coral reef surrounding it has a considerable area of ​​2446 km². Like all Hawaiian islands , the Gardner Pinnacles are of volcanic origin. Measurements have shown that Pūhāhonu , which is now largely submarine, is the largest shield volcano on earth with a volume of around 148,000 km³ .

In Big Rock accounts for about 22,532 m², to Little Rock m² in 1325, and between them m² on the unnamed small rock 178th

The rocks were discovered on June 2, 1820 by Joseph Allen, the captain of the American whaling ship Maro , and originally named Gardner's Island by him . Like many islands in northwest Hawaii, they were annexed by the Hawaiian King Kamehameha IV in April 1857 .

The reef is home to 27 species of hard corals , more species than in the reefs on the islands of Necker or Nihoa . Numerous species of fish occur exclusively here. The rocks themselves are home to at least 19 species of birds, 12 of which also breed there. The Gardner Pinnacles are also known for the huge opihi ( Cellana talcosa ) species of limpets, which are very numerous there and endemic to Hawaii , and for the unexpected abundance of insects and spiders. In contrast, there is only one plant species on the rocks, Sesuvium portulacastrum .

Web links

Commons : Gardner Pinnacles  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Researchers discover the largest shield volcano on earth , Klaus Taschwer , Der Standard
• Jane's Oceania Page - Gardner Pinnacles (English)
• "The Natural History of Gardner Pinnacles", detailed article (PDF, English; 1.44 MB)
• Harold Schjoth Palmer: "Geology of Kaula, Nihoa, Necker and Gardner Islands, and French Frigate Shoals", Honolulu 1927 (= Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 35)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ United States Census Bureau, Gardner Pinnacles: Block 1012, Census Tract 114.98, Honolulu County, Hawaii (English)
2. ↑ Michael O. Garcia, Jonathan P. Tree, Paul Wessel, John R. Smith: Pūhāhonu: Earth's biggest and hottest shield volcano . In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters . Volume 542. Elsevier, April 18, 2020, doi : 10.1016 / j.epsl.2020.116296 .
3. ↑ NWHI Multi-Agency Education Project: about Gardner Pinnacles ( Memento of the original from February 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)