Columnar Basalt - Geologist explains spectacular stone columns

Formation of Columnar Basalt is quickly described in this 2 Minute Geology episode.
Columnar Basalt is the result of cooling and cracking of an unusually thick basaltic lava flow. Columns are often 50 feet high or more! The Columbia River Basalt Group of Washington and Oregon (USA) is a stack of more than 300 individual lava flows. The flows issued forth from deep fissures that began forming 17 million years ago in southeast Washington and northeast Oregon. Columns are well-developed in some of the flows and non-existant in many others. The Roza Flow is the most famous Columbia River Basalt flow for column formation. Notable columns around the world include Devil's Tower in Wyoming and Giant's Causeway in Ireland.

This episode begins with Nick at the foot of some Columnar Basalt in the Columbia Wildlife Refuge northeast of Othello, WA. The Elephant Mountain basalt flow is featured - a flow that has particularly beautiful columns, although the columns are thinner than Roza columns. This region - the Drumheller Channels - was hit hard by the Ice Age Floods that swept through the area between 17,000 and 15,000 years ago. The floods took many columns away, but these majestic columns remain. Lower Crab Creek is nearby - an old course of the Columbia River.

The episode continues with Nick climbing to the top of the Elephant Mountain flow. The tops of columns have well-defined polygonal shapes: pentagons, hexagons, octagons, etc. Cracks with these shapes in nature usually indicate contraction of surfaces - in this case, a cooling lava flow that took perhaps up to 100 years to completely cool. Columnar Basalt forms in the lower section of basalt flows - know as the Colonnade. Higher in basalt flows, a more densely clustered sets of joints and fractures - the Entablature - suggests a more intricate and complicated cooling history of the lava long ago.

Filmed in September, 2012
Episode written by Nick Zentner and Tom Foster.
Video, Sound, & Editing: Tom Foster

[hestheMaster]

Update! Nick lost a hammer the day before this video and was found by a guy named Andrew who used hard drive
magnets connected to a strong rope to fish it out of the crack in the Basalt columns. That was back in 2017.
Nick got it back from Andrew in December of 2021.

[milliethompson-krug]

I am a past college student of yours, now showing your videos to my middle school science students in southwest Missouri. Thanks for all you do!!

[pingzhou]

I searched online for so long looking for an explanation on Giant's Causeway and couldn't find anything concrete. You literally explained it in 10 seconds. Thank you.

[JosePerez-ldqg]

....I don't prescribe to hero worship or fanaticism. But I do reluctantly encourage having role models. You sir, are a role model, and more!!! - a scholar and a gentleman! Thank you!

[rambacu]

I love the way he says "Hello young People..." what a great guy!

[cassidyrose]

After being awed by these basalt columns after so many visits to Eastern Washington I finally decided to look up how they were formed. Thanks for the video.

[tftftf]

Geology group from dartmouth england here ...we salute you. As we are all retired we loved the 'hello young people' at the start. I used this clip in a recent talk. It went down very well. Thank you for your style and humour.

[prsearls]

Nick, you make geology so interesting. I've learned a lot watching your videos and have been amazed at the facts you've talked about. There is so much we take for granted and never pay any attention to about how our planet was formed. The colossal forces and millions of years of time is beyond most of our comprehension. Our general lack of curiosity must be maddening to you. Thanks for educating us.

[DeebeeNonya]

Columnar basalt is very cool. Thanks for a very informative video on what they are!

[GarrisonFall]

I've wondered about these formation types for years and now I know. Thanks!

[travissavacool]

Really simple visual explanation but comparing the view from a distance to what you see standing on it. Thank you

[markvasquez]

Thank you for sharing this in youtube. I hope people will stop sharing all those video that think its a prehistoric tree.

[wefuntw]

seems this is the only video that explains columns of basalt in 2 minutes! good work.

[marialeabalmediano]

if i was a student, you would be my most favorite professor

[BavoDebraekeleer]

Love that you made and sang your own intro/outro song!

[aborne]

The guitar music is a nice touch. I enjoyed your video, and learned something! 🙂

[cheebahjones]

"These things are 50 feet deep" as he eyes his hammer at the bottom 🤣🤣🤣

[JohnSmith-wxts]

My friend, I subscribed to to your channel 5 seconds into the video. Perfect home school addition.

[KERGP]

We need someone like you to do lectures and videos in Colorado. Thank you for these

[harrygary]

Ok if some not as young learn too lol? Much of the information concerning ice age flooding wasn't readily available even a bit over a decade ago when I was in high school. Nor is most of the information discussed in these videos outside of a geology course. My wife and I yesterday completed a back and forth trek across the entire us (wa-nh) and we were both struck by the fact that no geology proved as amazing too us as the dramatic layering, upheavals, and hydrodynamic discharge so readily apparent as you travel along the gorge. Very excited to come across your videos explaining many of the very features we had been photographing and discussing earlier in the day. Some of the most awe inspiring events in geology right here where we grew up.