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Place Name
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Puna
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Pronunciation
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POO-nah
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Place Status (Type)
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district
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Location
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Hawaii County, Hawaii (HI), United States, North America
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Latitude
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unknown
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Longitude
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unknown
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Puna
(POO-nah), district, E part of Hawaii isl., Hawaii (HI) co., S
of Hilo dist., Hawaii (HI); c.25 mi/40 km long and
wide. Camp Kumukahi at E extremity; Hawaii Volcanoes Natl. Park to SW.
Along with the N Kona dist. in W Hawaii isl., Puna is the
fastest-growing dist. in Hawaii co. because of proximity of jobs in
Hilo and availability of low-cost land in the sprawling rural
subdivisions around the former sugar-plantation towns of Pahoa, Keaau,
Kurtistown, and Mountain View. Surface is mostly recent lava flows,
mitigated by heavy rain, which makes farming of macadamia, papaya,
orchids and other flowers possible in volcanic ash and pulverized lava.
Thousands of acres were subdivided in 1960s and 1970s providing little
more than a network of roads. Since 1980, lava flows from the NE rift
of Kilauea volcano have extended the coastline over a kilometer in some
places and obliterated most of Royal Gardens subdivision in S, the
coastal town of Kalapana, and the well-known Black Sand Beach at
Kaimu.
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