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The County Clare Wetlands Survey Patrick Crushell & Peter Foss 2008 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Figure 5.1. Relief and drainage map of County Clare showing uplands (A); intermediate regions (B) and lowlands (C). Adapted from the Royal Irish Academy – Atlas of Ireland, Anonymous 1979. (Copyright RIA) 5.2.1 Geology The county is based on only three major rock types (see Figure 5.2), each occurring over large areas, namely Early Carboniferous limestone (in the Burren and centre of the county referred to as Courceyan limestone in Figure 5.2), Late Carboniferous sandstone and shales (extending from Ennis west and south westwards to Loop head referred to as Namurian sandstones and shales in Figure 5.2) and Caledonian sedimentary and metamorphic rocks (in the eastern half of the county and extending towards Lough Derg referred to as Upper Devonian – Lower Carboniferous old red sandstone and Silurian sandstones in Figure 5.2) (Anonymous 1979). Consequently the basic geology is relatively uniform with a few exceptions and the geological interest is derived from the structural forces that have acted on the carboniferous limestones and grits, including glaciation, solution and marine erosive action. The basic alkaline nature of the limestone that occurs near the surface throughout much of Clare means that the ground-water is enriched with Calcium leading to the development of a rich diverse flora present in the ground-water fed wetlands in the county such as fens, turloughs and marshes. This is in total contrast to the bog ecosystems of the county dependant on acid (calcium poor) conditions provided by non-alkaline rock types and rainfall as their main water supply. 13
The County Clare Wetlands Survey Patrick Crushell & Peter Foss 2008 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Figure 5.2. The solid geology of County Clare showing the main rock types occurring in the county. Source: Geological Survey of Ireland 1:500000 bedrock map. 5.2.2 Soils Over much of the county the parent material of the soils is glacial drift (see Figure 5.3), which was deposited during the last (Midlandian) glaciation, except for the area from Milltown Malbay to Loop head where glacial deposits, referred to as Till derived from Namurian Sandstones and shales (TNSSs) in Figure 5.3 were laid down during the earlier Munsterian glaciation (Anonymous 1979). The soils derived from the Munsterian and Midlandian glacial deposits are generally wet, poorly draining gleys which occur west of Ennis and south westwards to Loop Head. The remainder of the county is defined by a mosaic of better drained podzolics and brown earths, with poorer draining soil types in the upland areas in the east of the county adjoining Lough Derg. A notable exception to the soil map is found in the Burren, where glacial activity exposed a bare limestone rock landscape, referred to as Karstified Rock (KaRck) in Figure 5.3, with pockets of deposited till derived from limestone (TLs in Figure 5.3). This is one of the factors that has resulted in this area developing such a unique flora in this region in the north of the county. 14
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Appendix 8. The County Clare Wetlan
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Report Cover Vol I - Clare County Library

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