Asked • 07/13/19

What processes cause basalt to form a columnar structure?

I have run across many pictures of rocks that look like almost perfectly carved columns. For example: the Twyfelfontein Organ Pipes, the Basaltic Prisms of Santa Maria Regla, and the waterfall Svartifoss (pictures included on this link: http://www.touropia.com/natural-rock-formations/). All of the rocks I have seen that look like this have been basaltic. Is this shape caused more by how the rock originally formed, its mineralogy, or how the rock was eroded?

1 Expert Answer

By:

Hope B. answered • 07/13/19

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