Giant's Causeway cases the horizontal fracture has resulted in a bottom face that is convex while the upper face of the lower segment is concave, producing what are called "ball and socket" joints. The size of the columns is primarily determined by the speed at which lava from a volcanic eruption cools. The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic plateau called the Thulean Plateau which formed during the Paleocene. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish
Canso Causeway Canso Causeway The Canso Causeway ("Cabhsair Chanso" in Gaelic) is a rock-fill causeway in Nova Scotia, Canada. The causeway crosses the Strait of Canso, connecting Cape Breton Island by road to the Nova Scotia peninsula. Its crest thickness is , carrying the two vehicle traffic lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway, Nova Scotia Highway 104 on the mainland side, and Nova Scotia Highway 105 on the Cape Breton side, as well as the single track mainline of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway. Constructed in an "S" shape, the causeway has a base width of in waters having a