Geological resource page for Walkers Association

As we ramble and scramble across the rich diversity of Ireland’s beautiful and dramatic landscapes most of us do realise how privileged we are to have some of Europe’s most attractive scenic experiences, and challenges, to enjoy – but how many of us appreciate that we can get a lot more from our days out with a little knowledge of what’s going on BENEATH our boots.

The vistas of coast and mountain and valley we enjoy, the muscle-stretching slopes, Errigalthe airy ridges, the soggy bogs are more than just different settings for our adventures - they have a story to tell. They are ‘stills’ from the ever-changing drama of the four billion year waltz of the earth’s tectonic plates when the rocks that are now Ireland were built and shaped – at times deep sea-bed, at others soaring mountains, sometimes scorched desert, sometimes frozen wasteland, sometimes tropical, sometimes stretched and sundered, with molten magma waiting deep down for the chance to surge up and wait for the elements to shape them into new landscapes.

Walk Slieve League for example and your boots will scrape on stones that were once shed by a melting Antarctic ice sheet. The peat of the Sperrin Mountains mantles what remain of great mountains that 400 million year ago thrust higher than the Himalayas. On Valencia Island you can walk in the footsteps of earth’s first amphibians, preserved for ever in the rock pavements. In the Mountains of Mourne you can stand with one foot on rock 50 million years old and the other on rock 450 million years old.

Unique landscapes

Each of the rock types that underpin this diversity produces its own unique landscape formsHen and Cock Mtns, Mournes.– the noble granite giants of the east, the great cliffs and plateaux of the northern basalts, the corrugated sandstone ridges of the south-west, the ancient baked and crumpled stone of Galway or the once-living limestone pavements of Clare - all these and others offer uniquely different landscape experiences.

But how many know their story and realise how much more interesting a day in the hills can be enhanced by a knowledge of how they came to be; of the geological forces that made them as they are.?

And of course for the climber and scrambler the first rule must be ‘’Know your stone’. Rock types differ in the their frictional properties and the type of holds they offer, the frequency of piton-gripping cracks – sometimes their tendency to drop bits of themselves on you head. A bare and greasy granite slab demands a different technique from an overhanging limestone wall!

Fortunately for those who would like to know more, to get cerebral about their walking, Ireland’s professional geologists, when not knocking chips off old blocks, do love to share their knowledge and there are now a large number of excellent books available describing and explaining our landscapes, some covering the whole island, others dealing with specific regions within it, but all successfully telling the story in a way that can be understood by all, even plodding hill-walkers! Several contain trail guides through specific landscapes to start you on your way!

Walk Guides

Leading the way in opening up the world of Irish Geology to the public, and especially the walking public, have been the Geological Surveys of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Under the title ‘Landscapes from Stone’ they have been rolling out over the past five years or so a series of packs of weatherproof card walk guides covering different regional landscapes across Ireland, from Donegal to the south coast. With about 10 walks detailed in each region, complete with map and information about what you see along the way, these are a superb introduction to our geological heritage. Mullaghmore(and these are not walks for wimps; some cover considerable distances and demanding terrain – worthwhile walks even without the geo-stops to spice them up!).

Information about Geological Survey of Ireland and its publications can be obtained via its website – www.gsi.ie. Its telephone number is Dublin 670 7444. The Geological Survey of Northern Ireland website is www.bgs.ac.uk/gsni; telephone Belfast 9066 6595.

ES2k – Earth Science 2000 – is an outreach network of Irish professional and amateur geologists working to promote interest in and appreciation of geology, especially among the young and the educational establishments. Twice a year it produces an excellent journal, Earth Science Ireland, which is free of charge. To be put on the mailing list just Email the Editor Tony Bazley - rbazley@btinternet.com - You can find out all about it by visiting its website at www.habitas.org.uk/es2k

In addition there are two very active amateur geological societies which run well-attended summer field trips and winter lecture series from which you can learn a lot. Current secretary of Belfast Geologists’ Society is Peter Millar (Email peter.millar@nireland.com; Tel: Belfast 9064 2886) if you want details of their programme. You can contact Cork Geological Association via its website at www.corkgeology.homestead.com/cga.html.

Online Resources

Apart from the wealth of interesting stuff that can be found through a Google search, two valuable online resources are being developed of potential value to walkers with an geo-interest.

For Northern Ireland the Environment and Heritage Service has a ‘catalogue’ of some 350 sites across Northern Ireland of geological interest and importance. It can be found in the geology section of the comprehensive natural history website - www.habitas.org.uk. (Select Geology, then Earth Science Conservation Review and on that menu select Site List). For anyone planning to walk (or even drive through) any particular part of the countryside it is well worth checking to see what sites of geological interest you could visit and the story they tell.

A similar project is underway in the Republic, although it has not yet gone online (local councils are kept informed of what is of importance in their area and should be able to tell you). The Irish Geological Heritage Programme, a partnership between the GSI and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, aims to identify, document and protect and promote geological sites of heritage value.