IV. Part of a letter from Sir R. B. S. R. S. to Dr. Lister, concerning the giants causway in the county of Atrim iu Ireland

Bulkeley, Richard

doi:10.1098/rstl.1693.0027

Cited by 22 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Columnar joints in lava have attracted scientific curiosity for centuries [4,5]. The same pattern can be observed in other media, such as quenched glass [45], thermally shocked sandstone [46] and vitrified ice [47].…”

Section: Columnar Jointsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…columnar joints of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, UK [4,5]. These are dominated by cracks intersecting at 120 • or Y-junctions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vertices of these patterns typically contain one crack path intersecting another straight crack at right angles, a T-junction. Secondly are crack networks with a more regular hexagonal pattern, such as the columnar joints of the Giant's Causeway [8,31]. These are dominated by cracks intersecting at 120 • , or Y-junctions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolving fracture patterns: columnar joints, mud cracks and polygonal terrain

Goehring

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

103

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When cracks form in a thin contracting layer, they sequentially break the layer into smaller and smaller pieces. A rectilinear crack pattern encodes information about the order of crack formation, as later cracks tend to intersect with earlier cracks at right angles. In a hexagonal pattern, in contrast, the angles between all cracks at a vertex are near 120°. Hexagonal crack patterns are typically seen when a crack network opens and heals repeatedly, in a thin layer, or advances by many intermittent steps into a thick layer. Here, it is shown how both types of pattern can arise from identical forces, and how a rectilinear crack pattern can evolve towards a hexagonal one. Such an evolution is expected when cracks undergo many opening cycles, where the cracks in any cycle are guided by the positions of cracks in the previous cycle but when they can slightly vary their position and order of opening. The general features of this evolution are outlined and compared with a review of the specific patterns of contraction cracks in dried mud, polygonal terrain, columnar joints and eroding gypsum–sand cements.

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Section: Columnar Jointsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…columnar joints of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, UK [4,5]. These are dominated by cracks intersecting at 120 • or Y-junctions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolving fracture patterns: columnar joints, mud cracks and polygonal terrain

Goehring

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

103

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“…Many of the questions that are presented in this issue on pattern formation were already under the attention of the earliest members of the Royal Society. The origin of springs 'running down by the Valleys or Guttes between the ridges of the Hills, and coming to unite, form little Rivulets or Brooks' was discussed by Edmund Halley [1], while the prismatic forms of columnar joints were first brought into the records of the Society by travellers' reports forwarded by Sir Richard Bulkeley [2]. The quantitative investigation of such patterns, however, is now a field of active research.…”

Section: Pattern Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern formation in the geosciences

Goehring

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Pattern formation is a natural property of nonlinear and non-equilibrium dynamical systems. Geophysical examples of such systems span practically all observable length scales, from rhythmic banding of chemical species within a single mineral crystal, to the morphology of cusps and spits along hundreds of kilometres of coastlines. This article briefly introduces the general principles of pattern formation and argues how they can be applied to open problems in the Earth sciences. Particular examples are then discussed, which summarize the contents of the rest of this Theme Issue.

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“…Columnar-jointed rock has for a long time fascinated observers with its regular, and often spectacular, hexagonal patterns. The earliest scientific descriptions in literature date back to the seventeenth century (Bulkeley 1693). Since then, many workers have provided detailed descriptions of the arrangements of columnar joints and offered various hypotheses on their formation (Tomkeieff 1940;Spry 1962;Ellwood and Fisk 1977;Budkewitsch and Robin 1994;Grossenbacher and McDuffie 1995;Goehring and Morris 2005;Gilman 2009;Guy 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin of internal flow structures in columnar-jointed basalt from Hrepphólar, Iceland: I. Textural and geochemical characterization

2012

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Basalt columns from Hrepphólar (Iceland) show distinct internal structures produced by alternating brighter and darker bands through the column, locally exhibiting viscous fingering features. Here, we present geochemical and petrographic data retrieved from analyses of major and trace elements and mineral chemistry from a cross section of a single basaltic column. This is combined with petrographic descriptions and data on crystal size distributions of plagioclase. We use our data from Hrepphólar to test four existing models that have been proposed to explain banded structures inside columns: (1) deuteric alteration, (2) doublediffusive convection, (3) constitutional supercooling, and (4) crystallization-induced melt migration. We find that the internal structures at Hrepphólar represent primary magmatic features, because approximately 20 % of the observed structures crosscut the column-bounding fracture for each meter along the main axis of the column. These features must thus have been formed before the column-delimiting crack advanced. Major and trace element analyses show small but significant variations across the column and strong correlation between oxides like FeO and TiO 2 , as well as K 2 O and P 2 O 5 . The geochemical variations correlate with the presence of darker/brighter bands visible on a polished surface and can be explained by a variation in the modal proportions of the main phenocryst phases (specifically variable plagioclase and titanomagnetite content). This banding enhances the internal structures apparent in the polished cross section from columnar joints at Hrepphólar. The measured variations in major and trace element geochemistry, as well as mineral chemistry, are too small to distinguish between the proposed band-forming models. Plagioclase crystal size distributions, however, display a systematic change across the column that is consistent with late-stage migration of melt inside the column (i.e., the crystallization induced melt migration hypothesis). The central part of the columns have plagioclases indicative of slow cooling and these are also more steeply oriented (i.e., subparallel to the column axis) compared with plagioclases present in the more rapidly cooled edges. This redistribution of melt within individual columns may significantly affect the cooling rate of columnar-jointed lava flows and intrusions.

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IV. Part of a letter from Sir R. B. S. R. S. to Dr. Lister, concerning the giants causway in the county of Atrim iu Ireland

Abstract: Concerning the Giants Causey. Prolixity in a Philosophical Description I’m sure you'I pardon.

Cited by 22 publications

References 0 publications

Evolving fracture patterns: columnar joints, mud cracks and polygonal terrain

Evolving fracture patterns: columnar joints, mud cracks and polygonal terrain

Pattern formation in the geosciences

Origin of internal flow structures in columnar-jointed basalt from Hrepphólar, Iceland: I. Textural and geochemical characterization

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