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The formation of columnar joints produced by cooling in basalt at Staffa, Scotland

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Abstract

Columnar jointing in basaltic lava flows on the island of Staffa, NW Scotland, was studied using a combination of field mapping and measurement of column dimensions, sample petrology and measurements of plagioclase crystal size distributions (CSDs) interpreted using theoretical models of cooling. Four different lava flow units were measured, and column ordering was assessed using the hexagonality index and relative standard deviations of column side length, top area and internal angle. Upper and lower colonnades consist of dominantly 5-, 6- and 7-sided columns, with a hexagonality index value very similar to that of Giant’s Causeway and other basaltic columnar jointed localities. CSDs from samples at different heights within one colonnade were used to infer the propagation of the solidus isotherm, which was consistent with a convective cooling mechanism within the colonnade interior. Sample petrology and CSD measurements suggest that entablature can form both by the interaction of propagating joint sets and flooding of the flow surface by water, and the most widely exposed unit on Staffa shows evidence of both mechanisms operating on the same flow. Crystal size distribution measurements can provide a useful tool for field interpretation of lava flow cooling mechanisms.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge a grant from the Edinburgh Geological Society which contributed towards fieldwork costs. We thank Chiara Petrone for assistance with electron microprobe analyses, Bob Mehew for helpful discussions and photographs, Thierry Menand for useful discussions about fracturing, and Scottish Natural Heritage for permission to work on the island. MCSH was supported by a Junior Research Fellowship from Trinity College, Cambridge. We are grateful to Marie-Noelle Guilbaud and Hugh Tuffen for the very thorough and detailed reviews that improved the manuscript and to Ben Van Wyk de Vries for the helpful editorial guidance.

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Author notes

  1. M. C. S. Humphreys

    Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK

  2. R. J. Brown

    Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

  3. F. Witham

    Present address: Rolls-Royce, Gypsy Patch Lane, Bristol, BS34 7QE, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queens’ Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK

    J. C. Phillips

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK

    M. C. S. Humphreys & K. A. Daniels

  3. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

    R. J. Brown

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queens’ Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK

    F. Witham

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Correspondence to J. C. Phillips.

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Editorial responsibility: B. Van Wyk de Vries

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Phillips, J.C., Humphreys, M.C.S., Daniels, K.A. et al. The formation of columnar joints produced by cooling in basalt at Staffa, Scotland. Bull Volcanol 75, 715 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-013-0715-4

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