Basalts

Basalt 1 (31" x 7")

Basalt Mesa (13" x 7" x 4" high )

Small Basalt Column (8" x 8")

Pinnacles (10" x 5" x 3")

Click on thumbnails for details

Basalt is one of the most common igneous rocks, although in the US it is largely confined to the western states.  Large areas in the Oregon and Washington are covered by basalt, and the two mainlines down the Columbia River Gorge are the best known examples in the country.  But the distinctive appearance of basalt can be found elsewhere as well—in the desert southwest along the Santa Fe, for example, or even on the Hudson River Palisades of New Jersey and New York, along New York Central’s West Shore Line.

Basalts are made of layers of cooled down lava.  In most cases they are dark gray, often nearly black, but they may have a dusty brown appearance on the surface, and some hint of rusty red iron staining in places.

The most distinctive thing about basalt outcrops is the shapes you see in their outcrops—basalts often form near-vertical cliffs with obvious cracks and joints that run up and down, giving the outcrop a columnar appearance.    When conditions are just right, the columns can be nearly perfect hexagons, lined up one next to another for miles and miles.  Other flows form much less perfect shapes, but still retain the obvious vertical fractures..  The result often looks like a staircase, with each step a little different from the others.  

Now you can model this unique geography easily on your layout.  We offer four Rubber Rocks to help.