Giant's Causeway was formed in a matter of DAYS - and not over thousands of years, study claims

Every year, millions of tourists flock to Northern Ireland to visit Giant's Causeway - an unusual formation of around 40,000 hexagonal stone columns descending gently into the sea. Theories on the stones' formation range from them being built by a mythical giant Finn McCool to more scientific explanations. Now, Dr Mike Simms, curator of natural sciences at National Museums NI, has put forward the first new theory since 1940. Dr Simms considered why the extraordinary geological features are found at sea level only. To mark Unesco's International Geodiversity Day today, he has explained why he believes they were caused by an event which took just days - and not thousands of years as previously thought.