Ballyallaban Burren - SEPM Strata

Image Gallery > Burren Karst Region Gallery > Ballyallaban Burren

$Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Stone walls and karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Stone walls and karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Stone walls and karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Stone walls built of the limestones of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Stone walls and karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Stone walls and karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Stone walls and karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$ $Karst pavements and topography of the Burren approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Exposures of the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the clints (limestone blocks) and grikes (joints formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984) and fracturing) enlarged by Pleistocene disolution (Williams, 1966).$

Galleries of the Carboniferous in the vicinity of Ballyallaban, the Burren along R480
These photographs were taken in June 2008 on the SEPM Field trip to Co Clare, Ireland, by Christopher Kendall. They are focused on outcrops the Dinantian Burren Limestone Formation where these form the karst pavements and the associated topography approx 5km south of Ballyvaughan Co Clare Ireland. Along the margins of country road R480 exposures of the Burrren Limestone Formation are composed of shallow water carbonates. Note the "clints" (limestone blocks) and" grikes" (joints and fractures formed by Variscan folding (Coller, 1984)) later enlarged by Pleistocene dissolution (Williams, 1966). Towards but westward from Ballyvaughan (or Ballyvaghan and/or in gaelic Baile Uí Bheacháin) the Burrenwee topography becomes more prominent and less vegetated.

Bibliography and References
Coller, D.W. (1984) Variscan structures in the Upper Palaeozoic rocks of west central Ireland: Geological Society of London, Special Publications 14, p. 185-194.

Drew, D. (2001) Classic Landforms of the Burren Karst, Geographical Association in conjunction with the British Geomorphological Research Group. p. 52.

Gallagher, Stephen J. & Somerville, Ian D., 2003, Lower Carboniferous (Late Viséan) Platform Development and cyclicity In Southern Ireland: Foraminiferal biofacies and lithofacies evidence, Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia; Volume 109 No. 2 Pp. 159-171.

Hodson, F. (1952) The beds above the Carboniferous limestone in North-West County Clare, Eire: Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 109, p. 259-283.

Leeder, M.R. (1988) Recent developments in Carboniferous geology: a critical review with implications for the British Isles and N.W. Europe: Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 99, p. 73-100.

McNamara, M. A and Hennessy, R. W., 2010, The Geology of the Burren region, Co. Clare, Ireland Burren Connect Project.175pp.

Williams, W. (1966) limestone pavements with special reference to Western Ireland. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 40, p. 155