Underwater basalt formation looks like a city wall

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.