Giants Causeway is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. What is this place exactly? It's an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form, and this are the basalt columns. Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It can be clack or grey.
The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. The majority of the columns are hexagonal, but there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The highest columns measure 12 metres (36 feet) and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in some places.
If you want to help improve the facilities of this unique site, you can adopt your very own Giant's Causeway stone. This is part of 'A Giant Cause' a fundraising program. Be part of something giant.
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General
Giants Causeway is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. What is this place exactly? It's an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form, and this are the basalt columns. Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It can be clack or grey.
The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. The majority of the columns are hexagonal, but there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The highest columns measure 12 metres (36 feet) and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in some places.
If you want to help improve the facilities of this unique site, you can adopt your very own Giant's Causeway stone. This is part of 'A Giant Cause' a fundraising program. Be part of something giant.
Contact & location
Be the first one to add a review
The photos displayed on this page are the property of one of the following authors:
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This travel guide also includes text from Wikitravel articles, all available at
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This travel guide also includes text from Wikipedia articles, all available at
View full credits