Underwater basalt formation looks like a city wall

by Alexandra Ossola
Thursday, January 5, 2012

Blogging on EARTH

The concept of sunken, undersea cities has long been present in almost every society, especially in the form of myths such as Atlantis. And now a recent discovery in the Taiwan Strait yields video of a geologic formation that resembles an ancient city wall.

Jeng Ming-hsiou, a biodiversity researcher and professor at the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan, discovered the formation. It is 200 meters long and 10 meters high and resembles tightly-packed pillars. He said it is basaltic and probably formed from a volcanic eruption around 1,800 years ago.

The formation of such natural “walls” is not unheard of: The Giant’s Causeway in Ireland and the Wairere Boulders in New Zealand are both famous for their resemblance to man-made structures. However, they are rarely found underwater, which is what makes this find so spectacular.

Check out the awesome video footage on the BBC Web site.


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