When deep flows of liquid basalt flow from eruptions it may cool into columns under certain conditions. As the exposed surface starts to cool it tends

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When deep flows of liquid basalt flow from eruptions it may cool into columns under certain conditions. As the exposed surface starts to cool it tends to form rough hexagonal shapes creating fault lines that descend through the cooling basalt and the formations can be affected by water. The faults mean that columns will become detached by coastal erosion and stumps, at the foot of the cliff, show where some have fallen. Iceland has many sites where formations have been exposed in river beds, at waterfalls and here by the coast on Snaefellsness at Arnastapi, Iceland.

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Photo credit: © MARTYN F. CHILLMAID/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: basalt, black, cliff, coast, coastal, columns, erosion, exposed, fault, faults, formations, geological, geology, hexagonal, iceland, igneous, lava, lines, rock, sand, sea, shapes, snaefellsness, stumps, volcanic, water