NAME	PUU WAAWAA
LOCATION	Hualalai Volcano; Hawaii County, Hawaii
CHEMICAL SOURCE(S)	Puu Waawaa
DESCRIPTION	Puu Waawaa, located on the north slope of Hualalai Volcano, is a 1.6 km diameter cone composed of trachyte pumice and obsidian. The cone consists of crudely bedded layers of pumice and obsidian blocks. A lava flow issued from a breach in the southeast side of the horseshoe-shaped cone and flowed about 9.7 km towards the north and northeast. The flow forms a prominent ridge (up to 275 m high) downslope from the cone and is overlain in places by later basalt flows from Hualalai and Mauna Loa volcanoes. Cross (1904), in the first detailed description of the source area, suggested that additional sources of obsidian might also be located elsewhere on the Island of Hawaii. Nearly a century later, however, it appears that the Puu Waawaa source is the lone example. The geology of the Puu Waawaa cone and flows has been discussed by Cross (1904), Powers (1920), Stearns and Macdonald (1946), Macdonald et al. (1972), Stearns (1985), Clague and Hazlett (1989), and Clague and Bohrson (1991). Geologic map of the Puu Waawaa cone area (click on the map for more details) USGS Map: Puu Anahulu 7.5 (1959). Geologic Mapping: Moore and Clague (1991); Wolfe and Morris (1996). Geologic Age:A K-Ar age of 100+/-6 ka is reported by Clague and Bohrson (1991). A somewhat earlier date of 0.4 My for the Waawaa trachyte member is also reported by Funkhouser et al. (1968). Chemical Composition: The major element composition of trachyte obsidian from the Puu Waawaa flow is report by Cross (1920), Washington (1923), Stearns and Macdonald (1946), MacDonald et al. (1972), Weisler (1990), and Clague and Bohrson (1991) with the SiO2 content ranging from 61.72 to 62.3 percent. The trace element composition of geologic samples (N=18; unpublished research by Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory) from the Puu Waawaa source is: Attribute Ti Mn Fe2O3 Zn Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Ba Maximum 2310 2524 4.59 245 153 40 64 1022 160 364 Minimum 1540 1444 2.79 172 130 29 56 917 144 274 Range 770 1098 1.79 74 23 11 8 106 15 89 Mean 1971 2052 3.99 205 141 34 59 965 151 326 S.D. 186 245 0.44 18 6 2 2 25 4 22 CV% 9 12 11 9 4 7 4 3 3 7 Similar trace element values are also reported by Clague and Bohrson (1991). Prehistoric Use: Little is known of the prehistoric use of the obsidian available at the Puu Waawaa source. Although Kirch (1985) points out that volcanic glass is one of the most ubiquitous types of artifact found at Hawaiian sites, characterization studies of volcanic glass artifacts are virtually nonexistent. The significant number of volcanic glass artifacts recovered during excavations in the general vicinity of Puu Waawaa suggest, however, that this source may have been a significant toolstone resource (Clark and Kirch 1983; Schousboe et al. 1983).
REFERENCES	Clague and Hazlett (1989) Clague and Bohrson (1991) Clark and Kirch 1983 Cross (1904) Funkhouser et al. (1968) Kirch (1985) Macdonald et al. (1972) Moore and Clague (1991) Powers (1920) Schousboe et al. 1983 Stearns (1985) Stearns and Macdonald (1946) Washington (1923) Weisler (1990) Wolfe and Morris (1996)
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