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Published online 28 January 2002 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news020121-15
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Sequential fragmentation: the origin of columnar quasihexagonal patterns
Ireland's huge hexagonal columns are a natural consequence of lava cooling.
The Giant's Causeway is not the work of men or monsters, but a natural consequence of how lava cools and solidifies, new computer simulations suggest.
The causeway is a field of roughly hexagonal basalt columns up to 40 feet high on the shores of County Antrim in Northern Ireland.
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