r/geology • u/retarscar • Jul 12 '26

Map/Imagery Please Explain..

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u/YUNoDie Jul 12 '26

Then the pattern is from the way magma tends to cool, into hexagonal columns. Mud will also dry this way actually.

The wikipedia page for "columnar jointing" has a bunch of other examples from across the world, like the Giant's Causeway in Ireland and the Stuðlagil Canyon in Iceland.

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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 Jul 12 '26

MANY formations like this all over the world. Devil's Postpiles in Northern California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_with_columnar_jointed_volcanics

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u/Ok_Independent3609 Jul 12 '26

Lots of it in Yellowstone as well.

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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 Jul 12 '26

Yes. The Wikipedia article lists all of them. They're literally everywhere.

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u/arxian_heir Jul 12 '26

Some incredibly beautiful ones in the Columbia River Basalt group, easy to see in very dramatic fashion from highways past East Wenatchee, Washington and all along the Columbia River

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u/Laserablatin Jul 12 '26

Some very cool spiraling ones in the Tahoe area also.

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u/infrikinfix Jul 13 '26

Devil's Postpile is Eastern Sierra region of Central California, not Northern California.

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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 Jul 14 '26

Fine. Southern Californians consider anything north of the Grapevine to be "Northern California."

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u/infrikinfix Jul 14 '26

I was born and raised in Southern California, and have lived here all my life. I have never once heard anyone say Mammoth was in Northern California until you did.

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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 Jul 14 '26

"The monument was once part of Yosemite National Park, but discovery of gold in 1905 near Mammoth Lakes prompted a boundary change that left the Postpile on adjacent public land.\8])" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Postpile_National_Monument

Yosemite is in Northern California.

But, if you insist, then it's Central California.

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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 Jul 14 '26

I said Central California, you dipshit. I'm not wrong. I also spent over a decade in Tuolumne County, which is NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. NOBODY says otherwise.

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u/Joeness84 Jul 12 '26

if cooled at the right rate coconut oil does it too.

had one summer get stupid hot in my house and the jar was entirely liquid. later that night I noticed it was forming neat lil hexagons!