A giant cause
The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland: colossal volcanic eruptions during Noah’s Flood
Photo by Alistair Wylie
Only a very small portion of the total volume of lava erupted is visible in the cliffs at Giant
A giant cause
The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland: colossal volcanic eruptions during Noah’s Flood
Photo by Alistair Wylie
Only a very small portion of the total volume of lava erupted is visible in the cliffs at Giant’s Causeway. The total thickness of all the basalt erupted at that time could be as much as 1 km.
Each year, almost half a million people visit the Giant’s Causeway on the north-east coast of Northern Ireland to see the remarkable rocks.
On the plateau 100 m (330 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean, the rolling plains flaunt every shade of green. Steep basalt cliffs zigzag into the distance and the ocean foams along the rocky blocks below.
The Causeway is composed of tightly packed basalt columns crammed together with their tops broken off. They form a path of stepping-stones leading from the bottom of the cliff to disappear beneath the swells.
These volcanic rocks indicate a time when the world was very different. What was the cause? Generally, visitors are unaware that they are looking at some of the giant, catastrophic effects of Noah’s global Flood.
Giant’s Causeway from Noah’s Flood?
It’s not surprising that people do not see the connection. After all, the media regularly attacks the biblical history of Noah, claiming the story is a borrowed myth.1 Causeway brochures say the rocks are 60 million years old.2 How could events so long ago have any connection with a story written in the Bible?
Photo by Alistair Wylie
Geologic marvels in stone
Someone has estimated that there are 40,000 stone columns. Most have five or six sides but some have four, seven or eight. Columns are 40–50 cm (15–20 in) across and create a fascinating honeycomb pattern.
But people do not realize that geologists cannot measure the ages of rocks directly. It’s impossible, because scientists can only make measurements in the present. Without eyewitness reports, the best we can do is to calculate an age based on assumptions about the past. Geologists quote ages of millions of years because they make wrong assumptions. They don’t believe Noah’s Flood was real, so they ignore its catastrophic effects. (See ‘Radiometric dating’.)
Once we realize that the dates assigned to the Causeway are not measured but just someone’s opinion, we can look at the evidence in a different light. And the evidence of the Causeway points to a large-scale watery catastrophe, much bigger than anything we see today. It’s consistent with Noah’s Flood. One indication is the cataclysmic size of the lava eruptions.
Huge volcanic eruptions
The tourist feature called The Organ (pictured below, far left) illustrates the immense depth of just one lava flow. It is part of the first of seven lava flows comprising the Causeway Basalts. Only two are visible in the cliffs here. Astonishingly, Causeway flows are massive, commonly up to 30 m (100 ft) thick.3
On top of the columns, high above, sits a zone of twisted and irregular rocks. Geologists call the columns, the colonnade, and the upper zone, the entablature, with obvious reference to classical Greek architecture.
Columns of the first Causeway flow also form the tourist attraction called The Harp (left). A second lava flow sits above. In fact, some of the isolated columns from this second flow stand out against the sky, forming an attraction called The Chimney Tops.
The first two lava flows of the Causeway Basalts are visible all around the Causeway in the upper half of the cliffs. They sit above a thin orange band. Under the band, the cliffs comprise a series of lava flows called The Lower Basalts.
The basaltic eruptions flowed over more than the area around the Causeway Coast. Basalt extends over 30 km south beyond Belfast, and 150 km north-east under the ocean to Scotland (see map, below).4
We see that Giant’s Causeway is dramatic evidence for catastrophic volcanic eruptions. Basaltic lava gushed out of fissures and holes in the earth at a tremendous rate. It surged so rapidly that it did not have time to solidify before covering the land in deep, glowing pools of molten rock.
Water, water everywhere
Evidence of water is another indication that Giant’s Causeway formed during Noah’s Flood. Water left telltale signs all over the lava flows:5
- Molten rock flowing over the flooded land generated lots of steam. It bubbled up through the bottom of the lava, leaving long, vertical tubes.6,7
- At the top and bottom, water quenched and shattered the lava on contact, leaving broken rock.8
- Rapid cooling of the lava under water produced ‘pillow lavas’.8,9 They squeezed out like a tongue of toothpaste and have a glassy skin. Frequently, the hot water chemically changed the basaltic glass into a soft, yellow-brown material called palagonite.
- Soon after each lava 