Rockall part of the deeply eroded Rockall Igneous Centre that was formed as part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province, approximately 55 million years ago, when the ancient continent of Laurasia was split apart by plate tectonics. Greenland and Europe separated and the northeast Atlantic Ocean was formed between them, eventually leaving Rockall as an isolated islet. The RV "Celtic Explorer" surveyed the Rockall Bank in 2003. The Irish Light Vessel "Granuaile" (the same name as the steamer on the RIA 1896 botany survey) was chartered by the Geological Survey of Ireland, on behalf of the Department of Communications, Marine and
Rockall sovereignty for itself. The consistent position of successive Irish Governments has been that Rockall and similar rocks and skerries have no significance for establishing legal claims to mineral rights in the adjacent seabed or to fishing rights in the surrounding seas." The origin and meaning of the islet's name "Rockall" is uncertain; the Old Norse name for the islet, "Ròcal", may contain the element "fjall", meaning "mountain". It has also been suggested that the name is from the Norse "*rok", meaning "foaming sea", and "kollr", meaning "bald head"—a word which appears in other placenames in Scandinavian-speaking areas. Another idea is