Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of 40,000 tightly packed basalt columns resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, however there are some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 40 feet high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 90 feet thick in places. It is a World Heritage Site and is located on the North Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland.
Although the basaltic columns of the Giant's Causeway are impressive, and possibly the finest example of their type, they are not truly unique. Similar - if less impressive - structures exist in several parts of the world, including at the Cyclopean Isles near Sicily, Devils Postpile National Monument in California, and the "Organ Pipes" formation in Dunedin, New Zealand.
While recent scientific research1 suggests the columns were formed as a natural consequence of lava cooling, legend has it that the giant Finn MacCumhaill (Finn McCool) built the causeway to walk to Scotland without having to get his feet wet.
See also
- Geology of the United Kingdom
- UK topics
- Devils Postpile National Monument (USA)
- Devils Tower National Monument (USA)
References
1 Jagla, E. A., Rojo, A. G. Sequential fragmentation: the origin of columnar quasihexagonal patterns. Physical Review E, 65, 026203, (2002) [1]