This article is from page 21 of the 2012-10-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
ACADEMICS, students and oil companies from all over the world have begun to travel to the Clare coast to get an up-close glimpse of Clare’s rare “sand volcanoes”.
A large number of these rare volcanoes, which were formed more than 300 million years ago, have been preserved along the Clare coastline but are incredible rare elsewhere in the world.
The sand volcanoes are created when large amounts of sand and mud are released in a short space of time, such as at the mouth of a large river.
When a large amount of material is deposited, water can become trapped between layers of sediment.
Eventually this water is forced upwards, bringing with it sand and mud which flows to the surface and deposits material in a cone shape, similar to a volcano.
These structures are sometimes turned to stone when large amounts of pressure are applied to them and, in very rare instances, they can become exposed again.
The Clare coast from Doolin down to Loop Head has one of the highest instances of preserved sand volcanoes in the world.
“People in the geology community have been aware of these in Clare for a while, especially people in the oil companies who come here to study them and how they might impact on oil exploration,” said Dr Eamon Doyle of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark.
“There is only a number of these in Clare but they are quite rare worldwide. These things are still forming in different places in the world, like the Mississippi Delta, but to get them preserved like this is very rare.
“There is a stretch from Doolin right down to Loop Head where they are at a number of different locations. They formed when Clare was much further south – close to the equator – and the Clare coast would have been very far underwater.
“Since then, we have been moving slowly north and there has been an uplift as well as a certain amount of erosion. “It is this rare set of circumstances which has made and preserved these sand volcanoes in Clare.” Groups come from all over the world to view the sand volcanoes. Dr Doyle visited a number of sand volcanoes along the Clare coast with two of Ireland’s leading experts on the subject, Professor Pat Shannon and Peter Houghton from UCD, last week.