Kilmuir Cliffs and the Cave of Gold

17th July 2012

The cliffs of Kilmuir are high up on the north west of the Trotternish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye. They are said to be volcanic sills, horizontal undergound lava flows which formed vertical joints as they cooled.

  



Peering down over the steep gully leading into the Cave of Gold.

The Cave of Gold, with a bloody glow reminiscent of its birth from red hot magma fifty eight million years ago.

 

More magmatic columns ....

 

..... some providing homes for itinerant ex-dinosaurs.

Closer to the water the volcanic sill has been partly eroded away by wave energy, giving us a cross sectional view of the columns formed during cooling, in this case with a square outline.

Now the cross sections are oblong, with a basaltic darkness.

 And these are trendng towards the hexagonal.

 Sea stacks; laval columns awaiting downfall through the perpetual tickle of waves, nudging of wind, and bear hug of gravity.

  

I'm not totally convinced that these hugely vertical structures are really the result of horizontal underground intrusions of magma but it was a great day out, despite the absence of giant cabbage leaves.