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The Giant's Causeway is an area of 40,000 tightly packed Basalt columns resulting from a Volcanic eruption 60 million years ago. It is located along the northeast coast of Ireland about 3 km north of the town of Bushmills in County Antrim , Northern Ireland . It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 , and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 (by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland). In a 2005 Poll of '' Radio Times '' readers, Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom . The Giant's Causeway is owned and managed by the National Trust . The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, however there are some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places. HISTORY Sixty million years ago Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten rock was forced up through fissures in the chalk bed to form an extensive Lava plateau. The rapidly cooling lava contracted into hexagonal Basalt ic columns. The "discovery" of the Giant's Causeway was announced to the world in 1693 by the presentation of a paper to the Royal Society from Sir Richard Bulkeley, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin , although the "discoverer" had, in fact, been the Bishop of Derry who had visited the site a year earlier. At the time there was much argument as to whether the Causeway had been created by men with picks and chisels, by nature, or by the efforts of a giant. The issue was not settled until 1771 when a Frenchman, Demarest, announced the origin of the causeway to be the result of volcanic action. LEGEND Legend has it that the giant Fionn Mac Cumhail (Finn McCool) built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish equivalent Benandonner. One version of the legend tells that Finn McCool fell asleep before he got to Scotland so when Benandonner came looking for him, Finn's wife Oonagh laid a blanket over Finn and pretended he was actually Finn's baby son. In a variation, Finn fled after seeing Benandonner's great bulk, and asked his wife to disguise him as the baby. In both versions, when Benandonner saw the size of the "infant", he assumed the father must be gigantic indeed, and fled home in terror, ripping up the Causeway in case he was followed. The Scottish side of the causeway on the isle of Staffa has similar basalt formations at the site of Fingal's Cave that are part of the same ancient lava flow. SIMILAR STRUCTURES Although the basaltic columns of the Giant's Causeway are impressive, they are not unique. Similar — if less impressive — structures exist in several parts of the world, including in the Garni Gorge in Armenia , the Cyclopean Isles near Sicily , Devils Postpile National Monument in California , Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming , and the "Organ Pipes" formation on Mount Cargill in New Zealand . NOTABLE FEATURES, FLORA AND FAUNA .]] Some of the structures in the area, having been prone to several million years of weathering, resemble objects, such as the Organ and '''Giant's Boot''' structures pictured here. Other features include many reddish, weathered low columns known as '''Giants Eyes''', created by the displacement of basalt boulders; the '''Shepherd's Steps'''; the '''Honeycomb'''; the '''Giant's Harp'''; the '''Chimney Stacks'''; the '''Giant's Gate''' and the '''Camel's Hump'''. The area is a haven for sea birds such as Fulmar , Petrel , Cormorant , shag, redshank guillemot and Razorbill , while the weathered rock formations host a number of rare and usual plants including sea Spleenwort , hare's foot trefoil, vernal squill, sea fescue and frog orchid. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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