The Giant's Causeway Earthcache
A
cache
by Wildlifewriter
Hidden
:
6/20/2005
Difficulty:
Terrain:
Size: 
(Not chosen)
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(A large Earthcache area, seashore and marine cliffs. Asphalt
roadways, paths, rocky outcrops and other structures. 3 Km walking,
by a typical route.)
Situated on Ireland's spectacular
north coast, the Giant's Causeway is an extraordinary assemblage of
geomorphological features, covering seven kilometres of cliff and
shoreline. The Causeway area attracts over 100,000 visitors a year,
and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1986. There are many
ways to access the area but, with high and eroding cliffs in
several places, we strongly recommend starting at the main visitor
centre, indicated by the co-ordinates at the top of this
page.
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Evening photo
of the Grand Causeway feature, looking North.
(Photo: Sally Anderson)
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What to see: The extent of your visit is only limited by how
much time and energy you have available! There are many different
features to visit and walks to explore. A guidebook/map will come
in very useful - available at the visitor centre. From there, a
(free) shuttle bus takes you along the coast road to the
“Grand Causeway” from where many other columnar
features – such as "The Harp" and “The Organ” may
be seen.
NOTE: Much of the grassland around the Causeway
sites contains rare and specialised flora: please stay on the paths
and observe any seasonal restriction notices.
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How to claim a
find: Near to the Grand Causeway, you will find
an unusual feature at N55º 14.402 W006º 30.495 (WGS84) Identify
this, and discover its “name” in the mythology of the
Causeway. Send an e-mail with this information. Please do not
reveal the answer in your logs or photographs.
How to get there: From Belfast – take the M2/A26 to
Ballymoney. At waypoint N55º 04.864 W6º 30.742 turn onto B66 to
Bushmills, then A2 Whitepark Road. The site is well signposted.
Admission is free, but a small charge is made for car parking
beside the visitor centre. We suggest that you use this car park,
because the adjacent road is narrow and carries a lot of traffic in
high season, and at weekends.
We would like to thank the National Trust Education Office for
assistance with this Earthcache.
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Click below for the official guide to the Causeway
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The Geology of
the Giant's Causeway...
Around 400 million years ago North America and Europe were welded
together along a seam that included Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland
and Newfoundland. The two plates then split and diverged and by
spreading of the seafloor created the new Atlantic Ocean.
65 to 25 million years ago, spreading of the plates continued and
an area involving north-east Ireland, south-west Scotland, Iceland
and Greenland were split along numerous fissures. Tremendous
volcanic activity pushed material upwards and at weak points molten
rock was hurled to great heights and created cones of debris. Where
linear cracks occurred in the crust great quantities of molten
material welled up from below and flowed out over the surrounding
countryside, burying it underneath great sheets of lava, called
basalt.
As the molten lava cooled at what was to become the north coast of
Antrim, shrinkage-cracks arranged themselves in a prismatic
pattern. These are mostly hexagonal, but sometimes pentagonal and
other are having various irregular numbers of sides. If you are
lucky, you may find the one single column with THREE sides! The
basalt cliffs consist of two beds of this columnar basalt separated
by a red band of iron ore that formed by the erosion and weathering
of the surface of the lava between periods of eruption. Continuous
wave attack over the millennia is now exposing the columnar
structure and creating the impressive formations we see
today.
Sources:
Mitchell, F. & Ryan: Reading the Irish Landscape, (1997)Dublin.
P.Watson: The Giant's Causeway and the Antrim Coast,
(1992)HMSO.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)
Find...
Causeway 2 (FoF)
Loading Cache Logs...
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Current Time:
Last Updated: on 1/22/2012 11:02:08 AM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) (7:02 PM GMT)
Rendered From:Unknown
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum
