TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

igneous rocks

Features from the Field: Columnar Basalts and why Hexagons are nature’s favourite shape

May 26, 2023
Features from the Field: Columnar Basalts and why Hexagons are nature’s favourite shape

What does an insect eye, Saturn’s North pole, beeswax, and a rock formation called columnar basalts all have in common? They are all hexagonal in shape. Why is this the case? Hexagons are the most efficient way to fill a space with the least amount of material The science of bubbles and bubble sculptures is very interesting and I do encourage you to go check out some other blogs that talk ab ...[Read More]

Features from the Field: Dikes and Sills

and May 30, 2022
dyke and sill in Dalradian quartzite
Dikes and sills intruding Dalradian quartzites, Donegal, Ireland. Photo © Prof. Alan Cooper (University of Otago).

Volcanoes are everywhere along plate margins and on hot spots on the planet’s surface. Just in the past 2 years, we have witnessed enormous explosive eruptions such as that of the Hunga Tonga volcano which released an amount of energy equivalent to hundreds of atomic bombs, and massive lava flows, as at the Cumbre Vieja at La Palma, which was estimated to have a total volume of 80 million cubic me ...[Read More]