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Basalt columns seen on Porto Santo Island, Portugal. Columnar jointing of volcanic rocks exists in many places on Earth. Perhaps the most famous basalt lava flow in the world is the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, in which the vertical joints form polygonal columns and give the impression of having been artificially constructed.
The Giant's Causeway (Irish: Clochán an Aifir) [1] is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. [3] [4] It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.
The monument protects Devils Postpile, an unusual rock formation of columnar basalt, "all closely and perfectly fitted together like a vast mosaic." [ 3 ] The monument encompasses 798 acres (323 ha) and includes two main attractions: the Devils Postpile formation and Rainbow Falls , a waterfall on the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River .
Basalt (UK: / ˈ b æ s ɒ l t,-ɔː l t,-əl t /; [1] [2] US: / b ə ˈ s ɔː l t, ˈ b eɪ s ɔː l t /) [3] is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon.
A flood basalt (or plateau basalt [1]) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Many flood basalts have been attributed to the onset of a hotspot reaching the surface of the Earth via a mantle plume . [ 2 ]
Flaked stone artefacts from Australia, made of tachylite. A second mode of occurrence of tachylite is in the form of lava flows.Basaltic rocks often contain a small amount of glassy ground-mass, and in the limburgites this becomes more important and conspicuous, but vitreous types are far less common in these than in the acid lavas.
The Columbia River Basalt Group (including the Steen and Picture Gorge basalts) extends over portions of four states. The Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) is the youngest, smallest and one of the best-preserved continental flood basalt provinces on Earth, covering over 210,000 km 2 (81,000 sq mi) mainly eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. [1]
A major use for basalt is crushed rock for road and housing construction in concrete, macadam, and paving stones. Because of its insensitivity to chemical influences, resistance to mechanical stress, high dry relative density, frost resistance, and seawater resistance, trap rock is used as ballast for railroad track bed and hydraulic ...