"Spouting Horn" Blow Hole EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

geoawareUSA1: Temporarily Archiving since it appears that the Listing no longer has an active cache owner to check answers and update the Listing as necessary.

geoawareUSA1
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Hidden : 4/9/2009
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Welcome to my home island. I grew up here and went to Waimea High School, but I now live in Alabama and wanted to provide many Earthcaches for you. This is a quick and easy drive from the Poipu area. Plenty of Parking and Tourist shops. The coordinates will take you close to the blow hole, but the railing will keep you back to view it from the viewing area.

”Spouting Horn”



The Hawaiian Islands are the tips of part of a large chain of volcanoes, and the spouting horn is a remnant of activity that has occurred intermittently. The horn is a tube, formed by lava flow, that extends into the sea, with its mouth on the rocky shore. The action of the waves causes the spouting, which, depending on the intensity of the surf, generates spumes that the wind can reportedly blow as high as 60 feet. Rainbows often form in the spray of this miniature, oceanic Old Faithful. Some visitors have been known to pass time wagering on the height of the upcoming spray.

Lava tubes such as the spouting horn's form when a moving stream of lava "roofs" over. This happens because of extreme heat loss to the atmosphere from the top of the flowing lava. An upper cooled "skin" is formed that, under the right circumstances, becomes the roof of an enclosed tube, according to Bruce Houghton, professor of volcanology at the University of Hawaii. The lava under the roof is then insulated against major heat loss and so flows between the roof and the floor of the channel, slowly forming a thicker enclosing crust.

Generally, at the end of the eruption, the channel stays full of molten lava, which then slowly cools and solidifies. Much more rarely, the molten interior will drain and leave an open tube such as the spouting horn. Wave action forces water into the cavity through the partially submerged opening, compressing the air already in the space. The pressurized mixture of air and water is forced out of the opening on top as a jet. "This sort of cavity geometry is not all that common in nature," says Houghton. "Most cracks are too thin and narrow to store an appreciable volume of air or water, and most lava tubes are not hollow." Also, the lower opening to the system needs to be positioned exactly right with respect to modern sea level-if it were too deep below "wave base" there would be no spouting.

The hole on top through which spray passes was probably caused by erosion from waves at a time when the sea level was higher than it is now. The spouting horn is also distinctive for the moaning sound that occurs before and sometimes after each spouting. The sound is caused by air driven under pressure through fractures in the roof of the lava tube by the water surging inside it.


To get credit for this cache you must do the following:

1. Time how long it takes between each wave and the mega set waves for the hole to blow water and email me the answer.

2. When does the Spouting Horn blow more water (during high or low tides)?

3. What time of year is the South tide swell the largest to have more spectacular spouts?

4. Extra Credit: Take a picture of the blow hole when it is spouting (if possible) and upload it (try to fix your GPS in the picture as you can copy pictures from the internet all day long).



Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ab Uvag vf arrqrq nf vg vf va cynva fvgr sbyybjvat gur fvtaf naq pbbeqvangrf.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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