BASALTIC COLUMNAR JOINTING——A PHENOMENON OF SELF-ORGANIZATION?

Basaltic columnar jointing is a protogenetic-tensile-cracking structure of basalt, which includes two tiers of polygonal (usually hexagonal) prisms with their thickness and length being different. The origin of columnar jointing had been explained by the traditional hypothesis of cooling-contraction for a long time. In 1981, the hypothesis of double-diffusive convection, which is analogous to the theory of salt fingers in marine physics, was proposed by Kantha, and "basalt fingers"—a new concept was adopted.