columnar jointing
Hexagonal rock formations
Columnar jointing is a geological formation where cooling lava contracts and cracks into roughly hexagonal columns, like a honeycomb viewed from above.
The columns stand perpendicular to the cooling surface, creating dramatic cliff faces of stacked pillars.
The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and Devils Tower in Wyoming are famous examples.
- basaltFine-grained volcanic stone
- hexagonalSix-edged polygon's form
- lavaErupted liquid stone
- lava flowMoving volcanic discharge
- coolingLosing thermal energy
cracks · volcanic · volcanic rock · prismatic · fractures · geometry · igneous · Devils Tower · polygonal · rock · geological formation · contraction · pillars · flow · magma · crystalline · erosion · cliffs
- rock propertieshardness, porosity, grain size, density, roughness