Encore - Giant's Causeway

Today, and every Saturday, Earth Science Picture of the Day invites you to rediscover favorites from the past. Saturday posts feature an EPOD that was chosen by viewers like you in our monthly Viewers' Choice polls. Join us as we look back at these intriguing and captivating images.
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Photographer: John Franzel 
Summary Author: John Franzel 

Giant's Causeway is a huge deposit of columnar basalt found in County Antrim near the tip of Northern Ireland. The predominantly hexagonal-shaped columns were formed some 50 million years ago by cooling lava. This view looks inland from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The causeway extends a few hundred feet from the base of the cliff in the background before disappearing beneath the sea. UNESCO named Giant's Causeway a World Heritage Site in 1986. Photo taken on March 9, 2010. 

• Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland Coordinates: 55.240833, -6.511667  
• Related Links
  • Basalt Columns in Idaho
  • Geological Succession at the Giant's Causeway
  • More of John's Photos of the Giant's Causeway
• Student Links
  • Crystallization-Differentiation of Basaltic Magma
  • Igneous processes: matching the evidence they leave behind: teachers’ notes
• Earth Observatory
  • Northern Ireland 

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