The Giant's Causeway, on the northeastern coast of Northern Ireland, is home to 40,000 basalt columns that line up neatly, like a giant's hand.
The Giant's Causeway, on the northeastern coast of Northern Ireland, is home to 40,000 basalt columns that line up neatly, like a giant's hand.
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Giant's Causeway is a coastal area in County Altrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
This coast attracts a lot of tourists and researchers coming here because of the neatly arranged giant black basalt columns (estimated there are about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns).
Researchers think they were formed about 50 to 60 million years ago by volcanic eruptions during the Tertiary period.
According to Northern Irish legend, the giant Finn McCool hammered stone pillars into the seabed to form a road that led to Scotland. But Finn's opponent, after being defeated on the way back, was afraid of being chased, so he broke this road. That's why the road has a strange shape like it is now.
In 2018, scientists came to a conclusion about the process of forming this spectacular natural population. The basalt columns were formed inside a volcanic lava flow and cooled unusually. When a small portion of volcanic lava begins to cool from the inside out, it will contract and create a fracture.
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When a basalt column reaches ambient temperature and retains its hexagonal shape, cooling also occurs with other columns around it. As a result, many incredibly uniform hexagonal basalt columns were formed, creating a spectacular landscape in the waters of the Giant's Causeway.
In the cliffs, the average height of the basalt columns in Causeway is up to 100m (from 30m to 150m), the diameter is about 45cm and the cross-section of the basalt columns is polygonal.
The Giant's Causeway is the best example of the geological formation and origin of basalt columns. UNESCO added the Giant's Causeway and the Causeway Coast to the World Natural Heritage list in 1986.
