Located on the north coast of County Antrim, the Giant’s Causeway is renowned for its hexagonal columns of basalt, formed from an extensive lava plateau that was erupted around 55 million years ago.

The causeway is a field of roughly hexagonal basalt columns up to 40 feet high on the shores of County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

What about the amazing patterns of the basalt columns at Giant’s Causeway? These formed 50 million to 60 million years ago, as lava – hot rocky fluid from deep underground – rose to the ...

Modern scientists know that, in fact, the great columns of basalt were formed by cooling lava, but the actual process that produced their very regular polygonal shapes has never been completely ...

One striking example of such naturally occurring formations are basalt columns, which feature regular, almost hexagonal, sections made of hard volcanic rock.

Columns can form in a variety of patterns, mainly hexagonal (but can be found with anywhere from 4-8 sides). They can vary in size from only a few centimeters to meters across.

What about the amazing patterns of the basalt columns at Giant’s Causeway? These formed 50 million to 60 million years ago, as lava – hot rocky fluid from deep underground – rose to the ...