Fingal’s Cave, Scotland
Fingal’s Cave is a sea cave on the south side of the Isle of Staffa, Scotland. The island (which is only 0.33 square Km) is made entirely of igneous rock. This was formed in the volcanic episodes when the continents Laurentia and Eurasia separated in the Early Cenozoic, creating the North Atlantic Ocean. The cave is made up of fine, black, hexagonally-jointed, basalt columns which are similar to those seen at the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. In Irish mythology Finn (or Fingal) built a causeway of stone to connect Ireland and Scotland. The columns formed from a Palaeocene (66.5-55.8 million years ago) lava flow that cooled from both the top and bottom. This cooling pattern caused contraction and fracturing of the flow into a blocky pattern. As cooling spreads through the lava flow the cracks move through the middle forming long columns. The cave was formed when a mild tilting event caused concentration of pressure above the current mouth of the cave. This caused a fissure to form and since then the waves have been eroding and opening up this beautiful structural
our website provide an enjoyable and Free knowledge about Regional Geology , Regional geology deals with the geological history, the rocks and the tectonic structures of individual regions of the world. Scales vary and "regions" may include whole continents, countries, or smaller parts of a country. Many geologists work in more than one "region", partly because they deliberateley expand their investigations to other regions because of pure interest, but partly also because the job makes it necessary to cover larger parts of the world. Also hobby geologists and nature lovers will often direct their holidays to different regions of teh world to sample a wider range of geological provinces and phenomena. When starting any geological task in a new region, the first step must always be to try and understand the regional geology of that area. For many regions excellent textbooks exist; superb overview papers in journals help to understand the main geological developments; useful websites can be found on the internet that give a good introduction; videos on DVD explain the geology and the resulting landscapes in userfriendly multimedia formats; excursions are being offered that allow intense, hands-on experiences in the field. But finding the (best) resources is not always easy. Often valuable resources are overlooked. This site (Geology of the world and the environment) aims to give a comprehensive overview of regional geology resources. To give you a jump start in your new projects
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