In Nature
Further information: Patterns in natureBasaltic lava flows often display columnar jointing as a result of contraction forces causing cracks as the lava cools. The extensive crack networks that develop often produce hexagonal columns of lava. One example of such an array of columns is the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
Tessellated pavement a characteristic example of which is found at Eaglehawk Neck on the Tasman Peninsula of Tasmania is a rare sedimentary rock formation where the rock has fractured into rectangular blocks.
Within botany, the term "tessellate" describes a checkered pattern, for example on a flower petal, tree bark, or fruit.
Read more about this topic: Tessellation
Famous quotes containing the word nature:
“All the lies and evasions by which man has nourished himself—civilization, in a word—are the fruits of the creative artist. It is the creative nature of man which has refused to let him lapse back into that unconscious unity with life which charactizes the animal world from which he made his escape.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Power is, in nature, the essential measure of right. Nature suffers nothing to remain in her kingdoms which cannot help itself. The genesis and maturation of a planet, its poise and orbit, the bended tree recovering itself from the strong wind, the vital resources of every animal and vegetable, are demonstrations of the self-sufficing and therefore self-relying soul.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)