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A stack is an isolated pinnacle of rock entirely surrounded by the sea at high tide. The term comes, I think, from an old norse (viking) word - stac - meaning a steep rock or conical hill. It is still used in Scottish Gaelic with places such as Stac Pollaidh which is a very conical inland peak. A stack is not an island. How can you tell the difference? A rough and ready definition is: if its top is further across than the height then it is an island - or a low rock. A stack should be at least 30 feet high. Below that it is a rock. A stack need not be a perpendicular tower. Gadda is a stack even though its main face is round. (It is one of my favorites and is on the front of my web site. But a stack should be rocky on all sides. Why do stacks happen? The answer is water solubility. Stacks are created by water - sea, rain - dissolving the rock along lines of weakness such as bedding planes and vertical joints. The rock has to have these weaknesses for the water to do its work but to be otherwise strong enough to withstand wind and storm after it is created as a sentinel standing in advance, as it were, of the cliffs and thus attracting the full force of storm waves. We will feature four of Scotland's most famous sea stacks. The first group is on the mainland near John o' Groats. They can be reached by parking in the Duncanbsy Head lighthouse parking lot and following the well worn path. (If it is summer be sure and stop and the fenced sea cliff to see the elusive puffin.) Our first picture is taken from a distance looking at the lighthouse. Another perspective is a side view. Our final view is by the famous Scottish photographer Charles Tait. Another famous sea stack is located in the Orkney island group. It is the Old Man of Hoy. The Old Man of Hoy is a sandstone sea stack 137 metres high standing on a basalt base. It is the landmark most associated with Orkney, and is popular with climbers. The top of the cliff overlooking the Old Man can be reached by the signposted path from the Outdoor Centre above
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