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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.
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) on the north Antrim coast of Northern Ireland was created by volcanic activity 60 million years ago, and consists of over 40,000 columns. [1] [7] According to a legend, the giant Finn McCool created the Giant's Causeway, as a causeway to Scotland. [8]
About 500 metres offshore from the headland is Cook Island, a rocky uninhabited island first charted by James Cook in 1770. The interlocking basalt columns on the north-east side of Fingal Head were called the "Giants Causeway", named after the famous Giants Causeway between Northern Ireland and Western Scotland.
An area of particular note is the Giant's Causeway on the north coast, a mainly basalt formation caused by volcanic activity between 50 and 60 million years ago. [21] The basalts were originally part of the great Thulean Plateau formed during the Paleogene period. [22]
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The Giant's Causeway, also from this time period, was created by volcanic eruption. At the Maidens, magma was forced underground through layers of weakness, but never reached the surface. It cooled more slowly, solidifying and leaving a hard rock, relatively resistant to weathering compared to the strata around it and so forming the islands ...
The East Rock trap rock ridge overlooking New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. Trap rock forming a characteristic pavement, Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland Trap rock cliff overlooking the Hudson River from an overlook on the Hudson Palisades in Bergen County, New Jersey, U.S. Trap rock forming a characteristic stockade wall, Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland