Quick Ulva Trip
Posted: Tuesday, 17 April 2007 |
Had been meaning to get over to Ulva for some time, so with good weather and th fact I was working near Ulva Ferry anyway, I had a quick visit to get some pics of the basalt columns that are found on the south coast of the island.
Someone once pointed out that the columns on Ulva are second only to those in Staffa. Not sure if I would go that far, but they are certainly impressive and fairly easy to get to. Well worth a visit.
Basalt Columns in Ulva. Looking south east across Loch na Keal
A columnar basalt stack
A sill running across the shore - contact with the basalt was very clear and the chilled margin really obvious.
A closer in view of the columns
A close up view of the columns - just like steps!
Looking down onto the columns - hexagon shapes very obvious
Looking westwards to the main columns
Someone once pointed out that the columns on Ulva are second only to those in Staffa. Not sure if I would go that far, but they are certainly impressive and fairly easy to get to. Well worth a visit.
Basalt Columns in Ulva. Looking south east across Loch na Keal
A columnar basalt stack
A sill running across the shore - contact with the basalt was very clear and the chilled margin really obvious.
A closer in view of the columns
A close up view of the columns - just like steps!
Looking down onto the columns - hexagon shapes very obvious
Looking westwards to the main columns
Comments
lovely photos,thanks
carol from where the sun is shining
Great photos again, Mountainman. I thought Staffa was the only place (apart from the Giant's Causeway) to have these basalt columns - I bet lots of other people don't know about Ulva either. Nearly went to Staffa from Mull, but the wee boat was a bit too wee for my liking so didn't go after all. Maybe next time!
Jill from EK
DO keep them coming!!!
Michelle Therese from Mainland Orkney
Fantastic Photos MM, it's amazing how the columns look from different angles, very educational ( for me it is anyway ) and inspiring work. I am sure it is very rewarding work for yourself. Keep it coming MM, and thank you...
Tws from At The Back Of The Class
Thanks for the comments so far, all you ladies out there! Our last field trip for the season os on the 28th. Hopefully the weather will be good and we'll get some nice pics to finish off with. There will be more geology stuff over the next few months anyway, so I'll keep you posted. Got a talk to do for Wild Isles week - thats coming up on the 8th May. Also the Scottish Geology Festival in Sept. See www.scottishgeology.com for info on this. Thanks for listening! JW
Mountainman (James) from Tobermory
Concur with the praise for your pics Mountainman (By the way I think you should have called your website MullRocks but perhaps you were afraid some young disco-going type would complain about false advertising!). Jill from EK has a somewhat Scotcentric view on the location of basalt columns (Those at Giant's Causeway originally came from Scotland if you believe Celtic giant myths!) but they are also found in USA, Mexico, here in Australia and also across the Tasman in Allblackland. My understanding is that in the process of forming the column the faster the rock cools the smaller the column. This presumably is more related to the intensity of volcanic activity than climate/latitude. So, Mountainman, who has got the biggest columns?
Guy from Australia
Guy, size doesn't matter :-) My Scotcentric view was because I was thinking of those I might reasonably have visited (actually I haven't visited any of them!) but I'm sure the ones in Allblackland (curious name, are they rugby fans?) are even better! They also disprove the Celtic giant theory, don't they? Unless he went on his holidays...
Jill from EK
Regarding size, I know of a few places where the basalt columns are SERIOUSLY impressive. Never been to any of them but would love to see them. For example: Devils Tower in Wyoming (do a Google search for it - Wikipedia has a great article about it) And also the Devils Postpile in California (again, Wikipedia has some nice stuff) Both these are impressive! Nearer to Mull there is an island just west of Iona called Stac Mhic Mhurchaidh (pronounced: stachk veechk voorrachy). Apparently it is beautifully columnar as well. Hard to get to though! Fascinatingly, if you did an internet (Google) search on "Stac mhic Mhurchaidh" a few years ago, it returned two pages. One was a climbers site the other one was entitled, well, how shall I put this? "Looking for swingers in Stac Mhic Mhurchaidh"? :-)))) I kid you not....
Mountainman from Mull
I have never got the impression that Tws is a laydee, by any stretch of the most fevered imagination...
Flying Cat from looking out for Tws
Thanks for your suggestions Mountainman. That Devils Tower is awesome but still not as impressive as Staffa. Believe it or not I have been to (near rather than on) Stac Mhic Mhurchaidh as I was brought up on Iona and went out there fishing one evening but do not remember the columns as noteworthy and got no invitation to swing! Size does not matter to me Jill but Mountainman got an offer to swing and I didn't! Explain that.
Guy from Australia
Thanks for the comments so far folks. Guy, interesting that you were brought up on Iona - nothing to be first hand experience. The only comment I have ever found anywhere about Stac Mhic Mhurchaidh was in the Geological Survey Memoir, "The Geology of Staffa Iona and W Mull", 1925, page 63: "A very fine columnar basalt forms the two islands of Reidh Eilean and SMM, on the west of Iona and is possibly to be regarded as the last exposure of the Mull Plateau Basalts towards the South West. The texture is however more doleritic than usual, and no definite proof has been obtained that the islands are not part of a sill. The columns which appear to be fully 100' in height in the case of SMM are vertical and regular, and if they form part of a lava, this must have been of unusual thickness" This note in the Memoir is by E M Anderson, one of the Survey officers There is an abslute wealth of information in those geological Memoirs. The Survey officers did a great job at the time. This particular Memoir was published in 1925. It is out of print (LONG out of print!) but can be obtained from the British Geological Survey as a photocopy reprint. Worth every penny! James
Mountainman from Mull
Thank you for looking out for me EffSea, I am no lady MM, I am a man, in fact I'm a man's man, or even a man's man's man, so there!!
Tws from InthehuffatMM
Sorry if I'm being stupid, but I always thought that " Ulva" was a bit thingy of a woman? Am I incorrect yet again?
Tws from Inthickmode
Tws - amazing how these threads develop. Basalt columns moving on swiftly to body parts, via swingers. Who knows where this will end. Think I need to get out and look at more rocks..... Sorry about the gender confusion, Tws, you see, I noticed that it was only women's names who had replied - of course, this blogging forum does not operate in "real time" So by the time that the Moderators had posted it, you had already replied yourself.... Actually, I think these boards, forums and blogs are much better when they are moderated, otherwise you get all sorts of abuse and junk and stuff being put up. Anyway, very contrite, knuckles rapped and off to look at more rocks sometime soon. Might take a trip up S Airde Beinn - theres actually a lot of geology up there. We'll see...
Mountainman from Tobermory. Mull
as i said last week, the pics are great but eversince i've been thinking where did i see rock formations similir--"pancake rocks" at punakaiki,in new zealand!!
carol from thinking about your photos
Oh really Tws, that's Alva!
Flying Cat from a hard stare
Flying Cat, this is getting more bizarre by the day. Would you believe that I spent the first 4 years of my life in Alva - 9 Park St was the address. At the foot of the Ochils, my original stamping ground, family still live in the area. Ah, my first hill, age 2, on top of Ben Cleuch (on my father's shoulders, mind you, I didnt toddle...) Get all misty eyed at this....
Mountainman from Tobermory, Mull
This is the sort of indoctrination children should be exposed to instead of all that religious stuff...much healthier both for body and mind!
Flying Cat from Pagan Place, a soap opera
Exploring the hills and coasts of Mull and Iona and occasionally elsewhere, with a close eye on the geology
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