A landform is described as a natural feature of a geographical location. Densely populated Honolulu, with all of its homes, condos and hotels has much of its natural landforms well hidden. There are a few, some quite well known, that are evident despite all that civilization. Others offer tantalizing hints as to what has been lost over time.
One of Oahu’s most photographed landmarks, Diamond Head Crater, known as Leahi by the Hawaiians, is a bowl shaped dormant volcano on the eastern end of Waikiki Beach. The scooped out crater was formed some 300,000 years ago by a massive eruption. Though now defunct military bunkers, some dating back to 1911, have been built on the crater’s rim and a government installation still has a small footprint on the crater's floor, Diamond Head is much as nature created it. A trail, dating back to 1908, leads to the summit. Make it to the top of this 560 foot tall landform and you are rewarded with panoramic views of Oahu and the Pacific Ocean.
Though Pearl Harbor is best known for its role in drawing the United States into World War II and its military connections, the harbor itself was created roughly 13,000 years ago during the last ice age. As the earth warmed, several river valleys that met at this point on Oahu were flooded, creating a natural bay with three separate lochs. Though much of its original shoreline has been covered by buildings, roads, shipping docks and air strips, Pearl Harbor still acts as a natural watershed. Streams from the Koolau and the Waianae Mountains eventually pour into Pearl Harbor.
Waikiki Beach started out as marshland, better suited to water birds and native Hawaiian fishponds. As more and more travelers arrived on Oahu via steam ships and hotels began to dot the shoreline to accommodate them, the wetlands were declared a health hazard. The Ali Wai Canal, the small waterway that separates most of the Waikiki Resort area from the rest of Honolulu, was finished in 1928 and the marsh waters drained. The sand on Waikiki Beach has been replaced several times over, trucked or shipped from other locations. Not much of the original open area that was Waikiki remains. The only bit of the original landform is preserved in Kapiolani Park, left largely undeveloped. There are four large boulders called “Wizard Stones” that were part of the original landscape. They now hold a place of honor in a fenced off bit of Waikiki Beach.
The natural crater that is home to Honolulu’s National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was formed by an explosion of lava between 75,000 and 100,000 years ago. It was first used by the ancient Hawaiians for human sacrifices and then by King Kamehameha the Great as a place to mount cannons used to announce important people or occasions. After the end of World War II the crater became federal land, destined to become the final resting place of veterans of that war and those to follow. Though there are several memorial buildings and markers, they are largely contained within the crater’s circular landform. The walls of the crater, now covered with vegetation, are still visible. The roads around the cemetery, including Prospect Street and Puowaina Drive, have been built to circle the crater’s base.
