Tuesday 18 January 2011

The Giant's Causeway


Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim: Often referred to as the eighth wonder of the world.  This remarkable arrangement of stones calls for an explanation.  The peculiar columnar formation was caused by slow and irregular cooling of lava which produced hexagonal cracks.  although the stones are mainly six-sided there are some of 3, 5, 7, and 8 sides.  the result was to produce fantastic designs that are given names like: The Wishing Chair, My Lady's Fan, The Giant's Organ, Coffin, and Loom.


Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim.  This wonderful rock formation, now a World Heritage site, is one of the world's outstanding geological curiosities.  The causeway was formed by the cooling of lava which burst through the earth's crust in the Cainozoic Period.  This resulted in the splitting of the basaltic rock into innumerable prismatic columns.

Neither of these cards has ever been used so I'm guessing when I say that the top one is older than the lower.  The Causeway was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1986 so that really isn't any help.  I'm merely going by the style of the cards.

When I was reading the write-up on the WH list, I discovered that a galleass, the Girona, from the Spanish Armada was wrecked off the coast just here.  The site of the wreck is protected too.  Many ships of the Armada were wrecked in this area and when the Girona arrived, survivors were picked up until there were over 1000 men aboard.  Fewer than 10 survived.

3 comments:

  1. Now that is a place I would love to see and touch. Unique formations.

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  2. I wonder if the wishing chair has anything to do with the Enid Blyton books? :-) I'd love to see the Giant's Causeway... maybe one day ;-)

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  3. Such an interesting place. It looks very remote and isolated.

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