The landscape of the Giant’s Causeway, lurking below the gaunt sea wall where the land ends, must have struck wonder into the hearts of the ancient Irish, who subsequently felt inspired and created legends about its builder: the giant Finn McCool. The Causeway Coast has an unparalleled display of geological formations representing volcanic activity during the Early Tertiary Period some 5060 million years ago. Its Tertiary lavas of the Antrim Plateau, covering some 3,800 sq km, represent the largest remaining lava plateau in Europe.
The Causeway is a mass of basalt columns packed tightly together. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Altogether there are 40, 000 of these stone columns, mostly hexagonal, but some are quadrangular, pentagonal, heptagonal and octagonal. The tallest ate about 40 feet high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 90 feet thick in places.
A fine circular walk will take you down to the Giant’s Causeway, past amphitheatres of stone columns and formations with fanciful names like the Honeycomb, the Wishing Well, and the Giant’s Granny, past a wooden staircase to Benbane Head, and back along the cliff-top. Further down the coast, the stunning Carrick-a-rede rope bridge spans a gaping chasm between the coast and a small island used by fishermen. The eighty-foot drop can be crossed via the swinging bridge—and is not for the faint-hearted!
The Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast site was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. The site is of outstanding universal value and meets the criteria set in the World Heritage Convention. Namely, it is an outstanding example representing major stages of the earth’s history including the record of life: significant on-going geological processes in landform developments, and significant geomorphic and physiographic features; moreover, it also contains superlative natural phenomena and areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.
Moyle District Council’s Causeway Visitor Centre is open daily all year round and located on the cliff top 1 km from the site. The Centre is the ideal starting point for walks along the coastal and cliff-top paths, providing all excellent range of visitor services. A 12-minute audio-visual presentation, with commentary available in 5 European languages, enables visitors to further explore the origins of the Giant s Causeway through local folklore and scientific theory, and highlights the many other attractions of the Causeway Coast and Glens of Antrim area.
The Giant’s Causeway was created by ______.
A．the ancient Irish people
B．the giant Finn McCool
C．the volcanic activities
D．the drift of lava plateau
