Carboniferous limestone
Later Carboniferous Limestone
Later Carboniferous Limestone times, about 330 years ago.
courtesy of the Geological Survey of IrelandLater Carboniferous Limestone
Later Carboniferous Limestone times, about 330 years ago.
courtesy of the Geological Survey of IrelandThis landscape can be characterised by underground drainage, and by the exposure of limestone pavement, with its characteristic fissure into 'clints' and 'grikes'. Sometimes known as a karst or karstic landscape, this landscape is to be found in parts of Counties Fermanagh, Leitrim and Sligo in the north-west, east and south of Lough Mask
Lough Corrib
The waters of Lough Mask flow entirely underground towards Lough Corrib, rising in powerful springs at Cong. Found here is one of the most bizarre attempts to wish away the realities of limestone drainage. This is the famous ‘dry canal’ which was built in the 1830s to facilitate a Corrib navigation to Lough Mask. The canal proved useless, as the water sank through the limestone.
Courtesy of Ordnance Survey Ireland.
Across much of the higher ground the limestone (which belongs to the older, or Lower, Carboniferous) is capped by younger, Upper, Carboniferous millstone grits and shales. On Slieve Elva (343 metres), streams run off the grits and shales, and then disappear into 'swallow holes' when they reach the limestone boundary. The water then travels underground, sometimes creating, over millions of years, great cave systems within the limestone. Some of these cave systems are 10-15 km in length, and have been explored and mapped over several decades by speleologists (people interested in the study of caves). Today, several of the more accessible caves, in the Burren and elsewhere in Ireland, have become major tourist attractions. Examples are Aillwee Cave
Aillwee Cave
Entrance to Aillwee Cave.
Copyright of Aillwee Cave.
Mitchelstown Cave
A photograph of Mitchelstown Cave, Co. Tipperary.
Courtesy of Mitchelstown Caves
Karstic landscapes are of limited extent in Ireland today because the Carboniferous bedrock is usually overlain by glacial drift. For millions of years before the Ice Age, however, it is believed that Ireland was warmer than at present and that the land surface was exposed to prolonged weathering. Karstic conditions may then have been much more widespread, producing underground drainage and in places leading to the collapse of the overlying limestone. The unusual enclosed, depression at Carran in the Burren is 3 km x 2km in extent and may be the result of one such collapse. But collapses occurred in many places where limestone was exposed, on occasion with the result that the overlying rocks or soils were drawn down and preserved from later weathering. In this way a valuable but very patchy record has been preserved of Ireland's story over tens of millions of years before the Ice Age.
Lough Corrib
The waters of Lough Mask flow entirely underground towards Lough Corrib, rising in powerful springs at Cong. Found here is one of the most bizarre attempts to wish away the realities of limestone drainage. This is the famous ‘dry canal’ which was built in the 1830s to facilitate a Corrib navigation to Lough Mask. The canal proved useless, as the water sank through the limestone.
Courtesy of Ordnance Survey Ireland.Lough Corrib - Courtesy of Ordnance Survey Ireland.
Carboniferous limestone
There are poorly developed limestone pavements like this around Gortmaconnell in Co Fermanagh. They tend to develop a hazel scrub or woodland, although this may be removed by grazing.
Copyright Paul Hackney, Ulster Museum. Source: www.habitas.org.uk/flora.Carboniferous limestone - Copyright Paul Hackney, Ulster Museum. Source: www.habitas.org.uk/flora.
Mitchelstown Cave
A photograph of Mitchelstown Cave, Co. Tipperary.
Courtesy of Mitchelstown CavesMitchelstown Cave - Courtesy of Mitchelstown Caves
Dunmore Cave
A photograph of Dunmore Cave, Co. Kilkenny. This cave is a major tourist attraction today.
Courtesy of Kilkenny County LibrariesDunmore Cave - Courtesy of Kilkenny County Libraries
Aillwee Cave
Entrance to Aillwee Cave.
Copyright of Aillwee Cave.Aillwee Cave - Copyright of Aillwee Cave.
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