Wet terrain responsible for Iceland’s hollow lava towers

Normally found underwater, the rocky structures form on land too

VALLEY VIEW  The rocky remnants of a past lava flow dot Iceland’s Skaelingar valley. Hollow pillars formed as hot lava crept over water-logged land.

Courtesy of T. Gregg

Hollow pillars of lava in an Icelandic valley like those found on the seafloor actually formed when molten rock oozed over soggy land, researchers propose in the Aug.