Caherconnell Stone Fort
Tel +353 65 7089999
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Caherconnell Stone Fort Tel +353 65 7089999
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To read the article published by the Royal Irish Academy on Caherconnell click here Burren Ireland information - GeologyThe word "Burren" is a corruption of an Irish word, boireann, meaning a stony place. This particular part of northern County Clare is distinctive because of the character of its stoniness: an upland region of exposed carboniferous limestone. Such landscapes are known to geologists as "karstic" or "karst", a Germanic term originating from Karst a limestone plateau near Trieste, in northern Italy., The hills in this area display the full range of landforms characteristic of a karstic landscape: flat blue-white sedimentary rock layered in horizontal beds; expanses of limestone pavements and platueaus; dramatic hillsides moulded by glacial activity into stepped terraces; and a whole world of micro-erosion features collectively called "karren".  Limestone is a porous rock susceptible to erosion by water. Once exposed to the air, the limestone pavements are etched by the weather into a distinctive series of solutional features or karren - clints, grykes, rills, runnels.These quickly convey all surface-water to underground streams (caves); hence the absence of rivers or marshes. Geologists and palaeo-botanists think that the Burren was mantled in a thin mineral soil supporting a light forest canopy c.6,000 years ago. With the arrival of agriculturalists, the process of clearing the forest for grazing land began. Over the succeeding millennia much of the thin soil cover has been gradually washed down into the grykes in the limestone. Ironically, the widespread grazing of farm animals helps keep the pavements bare of soil!  Due to the porous nature of limestone most of the rain and surface water drains down through the crevices in the rock until it meets some impervious layer, usually a lense of shale. It then begins to flow horizontally. In the process, the water further erodes the rock carving out smooth walled passages, channels and even large chambers. The Burren caves come in two categories, and dry and active, i.e. still occupied by streams. Over 300 miles of caves have been mapped in to Burren to date making it a mecca for Speleologists or pot-holers. |
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