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Burren Footprint Mystery Resolved
- 10 July 2012
The Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark received the image from a member of the public last week.
On investigation, Geopark Geologist Dr. Eamon Doyle said that the image is that of a Doline, which can be formed by solution of the limestone by rainwater or the collapse of underground caverns or rivers.
The site of the geological feature is located on the north Clare coast between Doolin village and Ballyrean, a location made famous in storyteller Eddie Lenihan’s tales about the legendary Finn and the Fianna.
Commenting on what he described as the Burren’s “Carbon footprint”, Dr. Doyle stated: “Dolines are bowl-shaped, enclosed depressions in the land surface that can be several metres to several hundreds of metres wide. They can form by the dissolution of limestone from the surface downwards, or by the collapse of overlying rock into a cave, or by a combination of these processes.”
“There are at least 1,500 Dolines in the Burren that have an area greater than 100 m2. Most of these larger Dolines occur in the east of the Burren. This is because large dolines take tens of thousands of years to form; the eastern parts of the Burren have been affected by dissolution longer than the west. However, the footprint-shaped Doline in this image was discovered in the west of the region, just a few hundred yards from the Atlantic coastline.
“It is thought that some of the larger enclosed depressions in the Burren began to form when the area was still covered by shale. A river or rivers flowing over the shale eventually cut down into the limestone underneath and would have been diverted underground. Once even a small window of limestone was exposed, it would have been gradually enlarged by dissolution from runoff,” Dr. Doyle explained.
The Burren also is home to Europe’s largest Doline. The Carran Depression is one of the oldest features in the Burren landscape and is understood to have developed before the last ice age 2 million years ago.
Source: Irish Press Releases - Burren Footprint Mystery Resolved
