Glaciation on Mauna Kea as evidence of pleistocene climatic conditions in Hawaii

Author:

Wentworth, Chester K.

Title:

Glaciation on Mauna Kea as evidence of pleistocene climatic conditions in Hawaii

Periodical:

Pleistocene and post-Pleistocene climatic variations in the Pacific area; a symposium

Year:

1966

Pages:

p. 123-129

Subject:

Paleoclimatology Pacific Area Glaciation

Summary:

Mauna Kea is an island mountain in the central Pacific which had completed its growth earlier than the middle and later part of the Pleistocene. The present climate of its upper slopes shows several alpine characteristics. Freezing and thawing are believed to alternate every day in the year. Snowfall occurs several times a year at random seasons, often down to an elevation of 10,000 feet. Evidences of glaciation in the late Pleistocene are abundant. Evidences of earlier and more widespread glaciation are scattered but indicate ice action down to the base of the steeper part of the mountain at 7,000 feet. The presence of at least four glaciations has been suggested but detailed mapping is difficult and diagnostic outcrops and areal relations have not been found or delineated.

Collection:

Monographs