Igneous Rock, Staffa Inland, Inner Hebrides, Scotland, UK Fingal's Cave is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns within a Paleocene lava flow, similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and those of nearby Ulva. Staffa (Scottish Gaelic: Stafa, pronounced [ÃËsêtêafa], from the Old Norse for stave or pillar island) is an island of the Inner Hebrides in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Vikings gave it this name as its columnar basalt reminded them of their houses, which were built from vertically placed tree-logs. The small Hebridean island of Staffa is the result of volcanic activity that occurred 60 million years ago during the early formation of the Atlantic Ocean. ... The lava is underlain by a thin layer of volcanic ash. The lowest lava flow cooled slowly producing the most spectacular colonnade structures. Fingal's Cave is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns within a Paleocene lava flow, similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and those of nearby Ulva.At 72 feet tall and 270 feet deep, what makes this sea cave so visually astoundingly is the hexagonal columns of basalt, shaped in neat six-sided pillars that make up its interior walls. These fractured columns form a crude walkway just above the water level so that visitors to go far inside and explore the cave. Staffa can be accessed by boat tours from Fionnphort, Ulva Ferry, Iona, Tobermory, Oban and
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