Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, known for its natural acoustics. The National Trust for Scotland owns the cave as part of a national nature reserve. It became known as Fingal's Cave after the eponymous hero of an epic poem by 18th-century Scots poet-historian James Macpherson.
Entrance to Fingal's Cave, 1900
View from the depths of the cave with the island of Iona visible in the background, 2008
Basalt columns inside Fingal's Cave, 2022
Engraving of Fingal's Cave by James Fittler in Scotia Depicta, 1804.
A sea cave, also known as a littoral cave, is a type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea. The primary process involved is erosion. Sea caves are found throughout the world, actively forming along present coastlines and as relict sea caves on former coastlines. Some of the largest wave-cut caves in the world are found on the coast of Norway, but are now 100 feet or more above present sea level. These would still be classified as littoral caves. By contrast, in places like Thailand's Phang Nga Bay, solutionally formed caves in limestone have been flooded by the rising sea and are now subject to littoral erosion, representing a new phase of their enlargement.
Sea cave formation along a fault on Santa Cruz Island, California, United States
Sea cave collapse
Akun Island basalt sea cave
Exploring a sea cave