{"id":108282,"date":"2026-06-15T13:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=108282"},"modified":"2026-06-15T13:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:19:16","slug":"giants-causeway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/giants-causeway\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant\u2019s Causeway"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Giant\u2019s Causeway Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Geochronologists investigating how the Giant\u2019s Causeway was created recently discovered it was formed over 5.5m years, 8m years less than previously estimated. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Giant\u2019s Causeway<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is located on the <\/span><b>coastal edge <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the <\/span><b>Antrim Plateau<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in <\/span><b>Northern Ireland.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The region consists of<\/span><b> 6 kilometer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s (4 miles) <\/span><b>of stepping-stone-like black basalt columns.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some<\/span><b> 40,000 stone pillars<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be found here.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Each stone<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a curiously <\/span><b>distinct polygon or hexagon<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with seemingly <\/span><b>unnatural straight edges.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>pillars range in heigh<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t, and <\/span><b>shoot up out of the sea, increasing in height until they reach the cliff top.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This stepping stone or <\/span><b>stair-like appearance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the area is where the <\/span><b>Giant\u2019s Causeway name <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is thought to have originated, as the columns look much<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">like<\/span><b> steps for a giant.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was declared a <\/span><b>UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 1986.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Giant\u2019s Causeway Formation<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rock and column formations were first <\/span><b>formed <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">some <\/span><b>50 to 60 million years <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ago, during the<\/span><b> Paleogene Period.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The columns originally formed <\/span><b>due to extensive volcanic activity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the area.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Molten basalt rose up through a layer of chalk beds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, creating what is known as a volcanic plateau.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>lava <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">then<\/span><b> began to cool and contract<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which <\/span><b>caused fractures and edges within the rock.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>As the lava flow continued to cool, it recede<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">d, <\/span><b>leaving behind tall column shapes.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because the lava cooled very quickly, it receded a great deal, leaving behind particularly prominent and large columns.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News<\/b><strong>:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2026\/jun\/15\/globally-significant-volcanic-event-giants-causeway-scientists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>TG<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giant\u2019s Causeway is located on the coastal edge of the Antrim Plateau in Northern Ireland. Read more about Giant\u2019s Causeway, Location, Formation, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":108301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8142],"class_list":{"0":"post-108282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-giants-causeway","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108282"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108323,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108282\/revisions\/108323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}