These curious rock formations owe their existence to the vertical accumulation of lava, solidified in the form of columns that can reach up to 12 meters and whose walls constitute a polygonal prism, usually with six sides.
Its appearance depends on the cooling process of the magma after an eruption. If the phenomenon occurs quickly on the same surface of the crater or its surroundings, the lava will give rise to basalt stone, composed of very small crystals.
The material, once solidified, is so hard that it does not suffer the consequences of erosion with the same intensity as the adjacent terrain, so the columns end up emerging over time due to the action of meteorological phenomena.
One of the most famous basaltic landscapes in the world is that of the so-called Giant's Causeway , located in County Antrim (Northern Ireland) and made up of some 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns. According to legend, it was built by mythological beings to link the passage between Scotland and Ireland. In Spain you can also find column-based formations of this type in Los Órganos (island of La Gomera, in the Canary Islands); under the town of Castellfullit de la Roca (Gerona) and in the volcanic outcrop of Frúniz (Vizcaya).
