강동 화암 주상절리

A beautiful flower blooming on the rocks At Gangdong Beach, one can see a rock formation that looks like an orderly pile of hexagonal pillows. That is the Gangdong Hwaam Columnar Joints, designated as a Cultural Heritage of Ulsan Metropolitan City in April of 2003. Columnar joint formations refer to rock formations that are made up of layers of rock pillars with hexagonal or rectangular cross-sections. The columnar joint formations in Hwaam Village area were created with cooling basaltic lava, which erupted during the Tertiary period or 20 million years ago. It is the oldest columnar joint formation created from lava in the eastern coast of Korea, so it is a popular site for geological research. Gangdong Hwaam Columnar Joints is a 200m-long formation stretching along the beach. The rock island about 150m away from the beach also has columnar jointing, upon which pine trees stand to create an impressive scenery. The cross-sections of the columnar joint formations here resemble flower patterns, which gives credence to the theory that the name of the area, Hwaam (or flower rock), came from these formations. Gangdong Pebble Beach, where the columnar joint formations are located in, is a famous site for bare ground camping. It is particularly popular in summer, when the people of Ulsan come down with tents to camp near the water. The view here is quite unique, with the columnar joint formations, the sea, and the cityscape blending in with each other.