How was Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland formed: Geology and Irish Myths explain its creation — Transcript

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1. 0:00Imagine stepping onto a landscape straight  out of a fantasy novel, where thousands of
2. 0:05hexagonal columns fit together like the world's  most intricate jigsaw puzzle. Welcome to Giant's
3. 0:12Causeway in Northern Ireland, a mysterious site  that seems to have been carved by Ancient Giants.
4. 0:19But was it really built by mythical creatures? Or  can science offer a more plausible explanation?
5. 0:26In this video we'll dive into the fascinating  story of how Giant's Causeway was formed. We'll
6. 0:32first explore the geological forces that sculpted  the stunning natural wonder millions of years ago,
7. 0:40when molten lava cooled into the massive basalt  columns we see today. Then we'll explore the Irish
8. 0:47legend which tells us how the causeway was made  by the mighty giant Finn McCool, as a bridge to his
9. 0:54rival across the sea. So let's uncover together the  secrets of Giant's Causeway, a land at the crossroads of
10. 1:02legend and science. Hello, and welcome back to my  channel! And if you're new here, I'm Maria and I'm
11. 1:09a scientist turned Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer. In this  channel we use science to explore and understand
12. 1:17the many wonders of our planet. Today we're diving  into the spectacular Giant's Causeway in Northern
13. 1:24Ireland. I love, love, LOVE Ireland! And on my last  visit, I became fascinated by the Giant's Causeway.
14. 1:32As someone who's passionate about science and  about Irish myths and legends, I just knew that
15. 1:38the Giants Causeway was going to be the perfect  subject for our next adventure together. I hope
16. 1:44that by the end of this video you will share my  enthusiasm for Giant's Causeway and for all the
17. 1:50Irish cultural heritage. Let's start by having a  look at the geological history of Giant's Causeway.
18. 1:57The creation of Giant's Causeway was marked  by several significant stages. Its Inception
19. 2:02goes back to the early Paleogene period. The  Paleogene period stretched over a period of
20. 2:08about 43 million years, between 66 and 23 million  years ago. The Giant's Causeway started forming
21. 2:16about 60 million years ago, around the time  when Laurasia started fragmenting, causing the
22. 2:23formation of the North Atlantic Ocean. Laurasia was  an ancient continent that comprised North America,
23. 2:30Europe, and part of Asia. The splitting of this  ancient continent triggered intense volcanic
24. 2:36activity across the region that comprises the  nowadays North Coast of Ireland and Western
25. 2:42Scotland. The lava flowing onto this region built  up the foundational layers of the Giant's Causeway.
26. 2:49And we can find a similar geological formation in  Scotland, called the Fingal's Cave, another impressive
27. 2:56geological wonder of our planet. After this  period of violent eruptions the volcanic
28. 3:02activity subsided, and a long period of inactivity  followed. During this dormant period, the topmost
29. 3:09layer of lava was subjected to severe weathering,  eventually leading to the formation of a rich iron
30. 3:17and aluminum-laden red layer, known as the Interbasaltic Formation, and the landscape turned into a
31. 3:24lush hilly forest. But the fireworks weren't over  yet! A second period of volcanic activity began,
32. 3:32filling the valleys with deep lakes of lava that  slowly cooled to form the iconic basalt columns of
33. 3:39the Giant's Causeway. After another quiet period came  the grand finale of eruptions: the Upper Basalt
34. 3:46Formation. Lava carved its way up through existing  fissures, adding further layers to the geological
35. 3:53formations that comprise the Giants Causeway  today. Now that we know the origin of this famous
36. 3:59columns, let's see what gives the columns their  shape? But before uncovering the secrets of these
37. 4:05columns, if you're enjoying this video then please  give it a thumbs up and hit the Subscribe and the
38. 4:10bell button to get notified when I upload new  videos about the spectacular sites our planet
39. 4:16has to offer. Let's get better acquainted with  the columns at Giant's Causeway. This site, which
40. 4:22is a UNESCO Word Heritage site, consists  of about 40,000 columns made up of dark,
41. 4:29fine-grain basalt. We talked about basalt in a previous  video, when we discussed the colored sand beaches. So
42. 4:35if you're interested in discovering the connection  between basalt and the color of sand, I will link
43. 4:42the video in the video description and in the  upper right corner so you can watch it later. The
44. 4:47basalt columns have different heights, diameters, and  shapes. They can be as high as 12 meters and 30 - 60 cm
45. 4:56wide. While the most predominant shape we observe  in the columns at Giant's Causeway is hexagonal,
46. 5:02we can find columns with other number of sides,  anywhere between 3 to 8 sides. But why are most
47. 5:09of them hexagonally shaped? As we've already seen,  these columns formed as the molten basaltic lava
48. 5:16cooled and solidified. The lava cooled rapidly from  the outside in, causing it to contract and form
49. 5:23cracks on the surface. Recent computational studies  have shown that these initial cracks formed a
50. 5:29right angles, that's 90° angles, but as the cooling  process continued they shifted to 120° angles,
51. 5:38which are typical of hexagons. The cooling lava is thus moulded into hexagonal shapes. With the
52. 5:45continued cooling and contraction of the lava the  cracks then propagated downwards, thus creating the
53. 5:52tall hexagonal columns we see today. These lengthy  geological processes culminated in the magnificent
54. 5:59landscape we get to enjoy today at Giant's  Causeway in Northern Ireland. But, as I said
55. 6:05in the beginning, we have an alternative story to  the creation of Giant's Causeway, one rooted deep in
56. 6:12the Irish mythology. But before exploring this  alternative pathway to the creation of Giant's
57. 6:18Causeway, I would love to hear from you. Have you  traveled to Ireland? Which is your favorite place
58. 6:24in Ireland, whether that's the Republic of Ireland  or Northern Ireland? And now let's get back to our
59. 6:30main protagonist of our adventure in Ireland:  Finn McCool, and explore the story of two giants.
60. 6:38Once upon a time, way back in ancient Ireland, the  mighty giant Finn McCool got into a fight with the
61. 6:45Scottish giant Benandonner, who fancied Ireland  as his own. The nerve of that guy! Angry with the
62. 6:52Scottish giant, Finn started throwing boulders  into the sea, creating a rocky bridge all the way
63. 6:59to the Isle of Staffa in Scotland, where Benandonner  resided. With his newly formed Giant's
64. 7:05Causeway, Finn, pretty sure of himself, took off to  Scotland to challenge the Scottish giant to a duel.
65. 7:14However, upon crossing the causeway and seeing Benandonner, Finn immediately started regretting
66. 7:21his decision. Benandonner was not just a giant,  he was huge even for a giant! Realizing he was in
67. 7:29way over his head, Finn rushed back across the  causeway to Ireland to try to find another way
68. 7:36to defeat the Scottish giant. His quick-witted wife Sadhbh helped disguise him as an enormous baby.
69. 7:43When Benandonner arrived at Finn's home, his  wife presented him with Finn's enormous child,
70. 7:50which was none other than Finn himself. If that was  the size of the baby, just how huge was the father?
71. 7:57At that thought, Benandonner lost all courage.  Terrified of the supergiant he now believed Finn
72. 8:03to be, Benandonner "turned about, and gallantly  he chickened out", to use a quote from Monty Python
73. 8:10that I believed best described Benandonner's  reaction. He retreated back to Scotland, and on his
74. 8:16way he ripped out portions of the causeway tossing  them left and right into the sea to make sure that
75. 8:23Finn could not follow him. He retreated back to  the Isle of Staffa, in Fingal's Cave, the geological
76. 8:29twin of Giant's Causeway. Whether it was geological  processes or ancient giants, the Giant's Causeway
77. 8:37is an exquisite wonder of our planet, and I highly  encourage you to visit the site if you travel to
78. 8:42Ireland. And if you're interested in exploring  even more of these interesting basalt columns,
79. 8:48you can also find them in other sites around the  world. These include the Devil's Postpile National
80. 8:54Monument in California, USA, the Svartifoss waterfall  in Skaftafell, Iceland, and Los Prismas Basálticos
81. 9:02waterfalls at Huasca de Ocampo, in Mexico. Isn't it  amazing how awesome and interesting our planet is?
82. 9:10Which Giant's Causeway origin story do you like  more? As a scientist, I enjoyed learning about the
83. 9:17geological history of Giant's Causeway, But as  a Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer, and someone who loves
84. 9:23the Irish mythology, I enjoyed more the story  of two giants. If you enjoyed diving into the
85. 9:29captivating blend of science and mythology at  this geological wonder, then you'll definitely
86. 9:35enjoy exploring this other marvel of our planet,  where science and legends merge together to
87. 9:43explain another mystery of our planet. Thank  you for watching, and I'll see you next time! Bye!