Image: Basalt columns in yellowstone 2
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Description: Basalt columns in Yellowstone National Park.During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form. If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant w:contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing, it cannot easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns.
Title: Basalt columns in yellowstone 2
Credit: Own work
Author: Brocken Inaglory
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
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