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Illustrated in colour throughout, this introductory guide provides the beginner
with an attractive and highly accessible account of a remarkably diverse
region. With virtually every period of the geological column represented
in a relatively small area, the north of Ireland has localities that featured
in some of the great geological controversies of the past, including the
Giant’s Causeway World Heritage Site and the Donegal granites.
The book aims to provide a comprehensive geological history of this part of Ireland within the framework of plate tectonics. As part of this history, Ireland’s changing position on the surface of the Earth is explored throughout geological time. The odyssey of Ireland is plotted from Precambrian times, more than 500 million years ago, when it was in two parts somewhere around modern-day Indonesia, and beginning the long northward and eastwards drift to its present position. This journey took Ireland through a whole range of geological conditions, including icecaps, hot deserts and the warm coral-rich seas of the tropics. All of these contrasting environments left distinctive signs in the rock record of Ireland, which this book explains in full.
The clearly written explanatory sections of the book and the detailed excursion guide notes, maps and field photographs will allow all visitors, irrespective of their geological background, to investigate the evidence and draw conclusions at first hand in a fascinating selection of localities – not just the world-famous Giant’s Causeway – encompassing the wide range of geological features in this scenically beautiful land.
Paul Lyle lectures in geology at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, County Antrim. His main research interests are in the volcanology and geochemistry of the Antrim basalts, including the Giant’s Causeway area. He has considerable experience of conducting field trips in the north of Ireland for visitors at all levels of experience in geology, and is the author of the highly successful A geological excursion guide to the Causeway Coast. He is a Chartered Geologist and a Fellow of the Geological Society.
Preface, Acknowledgements
Plate-tectonic processes; Rock types and their formation
Geological history: a case study
The Precambrian; The Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian; The Devonian; The Carboniferous; The Permian; The Triassic; The Jurassic; The Cretaceous; The Palaeogene–Neogene; The Quaternary
Making geological maps; Reading geological maps; The 1:250,000-scale geological map; Geological boundaries
The Stone Age: the Mesolithic period; The Neolithic period; The Megalithic builders; The geology of the Bronze and Iron Ages
The Ox Mountains and north Sligo; Benbulben and the Gleniff Horseshoe Road; South Donegal; North Donegal
County Fermanagh; County Tyrone
North Down; Permian and Triassic rocks; The Mourne Mountains and south Down
The Causeway Coast; Mid-County Antrim
Appendix, Glossary, Further reading, Index
SERIES: Classic Geology in Europe 5
216×138mm 192pp. Illustrated in colour throughout.
ISBN: 1-903544-08-4 PB £14.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-903544-08-2
Published in 2002
Subject: Earth science: regional geology
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