Gallery of the Geology of Ballybunion and Leck Point

This page represents the first page of a gallery of photographs that illustrate the geology of the Clare Shales and Ross Formation where it outcrops along the southern shore of Shannon Estuary just north of Ballybunion and at Leck Point. Click on highlighted Deepwater Gallery for access to a completete index to this gallery or access items from this gallery using the pull down menu on the header bar above.

The photographs in this gallery were taken by Christopher Kendall, and Peter Haughton. We extend our special thanks to Geoff McGee, the skipper of the vessel Draiocht which sails from Carrigaholt harbour on the northern flank of the Shannon Estuary in Co-Clare, who transported us to many of the various localities featured in our photographs. The first photograph of the series should help readers to locate the other photographs of the Clare Shale and Ross Formation sediments exposed along the southern shore of the Shannon Estuary.

The gallery illustrates the character of the deepwater sediments of the Clare Shale and Ross Formation. The base of the section here starts with deepwater black euxinic Clare Shale and is overlain by the turbidite sheet sands of the deepwater fan lobes of the Ross Formation with sparse shallow channeling.

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References

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Collinson, J.D., Martinsen, O. Bakken, B. and Kloster, A. (1991), Early fill of the western Irish Namurian Basin: a complex relationship between turbidites and deltas. Basin Research, 3, 223 242.

Davies, S.J. & Elliott, T. (1996), Spectral gamma ray characterisation of high resolution sequence stratigraphy: examples from Upper Carboniferous fluvio deltaic systems, Co. Clare, Ireland. In Howell, J.A. & Aitken, J.F. (eds) High resolution sequence stratigraphy: innovations and applications. Special Publication of the Geological Society London, 104, 25 35.

Elliott, T., 2000, Depositional architecture of a sand rich, channelized turbidite system: the Upper Carboniferous Ross Sandstone Formation, Western Ireland. in P. Weimer, R. M. Slatt, A. H. Bouma, and D. T. Lawrence, eds., Deep water reservoirs of the world: Gulf Coast Section SEPM Foundation, Twentieth Annual Research Conference, p. 342–373.

Elliott, T.Pulham, A.J., and Davies, S.J., 2000, Sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy and spectral gamma ray expression of turbidite, slope and deltaic depositional sytems in an Upper Carboniferous basin fill succession, western Ireland: Int. Ass. Sed. Conference, Dublin Ireland, Field Guide, p 1 40.

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Martinsen, O.J. (1989), Styles of soft sediment deformation on a Namurian (Carboniferous) delta slope, western Ireland Namurian Basin, Ireland. In Whatley, M.K.G. & Pickering, K.T. (eds) Deltas: sites and traps for fossil fuels, Geological Society Special Publication, 41, 167 177.

Martinsen, O.J. & Bakken, B. (1990), Extensional and compressional zones in slumps and slides in the Namurian of County Clare, Ireland. Journal of the Geological Society, 147, 153 164.

Pulham, A.J. (1987), Depositional and syn sedimentary deformation processes in Namurian deltaic sequences of west County Clare, Ireland. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Wales, Swansea.

Pulham, A.J. (1989), Controls on internal structure and architecture of sandstone bodies within Upper carboniferous fluvial dominated deltas, County Clare, western Ireland. In Whatley, M.K.G. & Pickering, K.T. (eds) Deltas: sites and traps for fossil fuels, Geological Society Special Publication, 41, 179 203.

Pyles, D.R. (in press), Stratigraphic architecture of a structually confined submarine fan, Carboniferous Ross Sandstone, Western Ireland, Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Rider, M.H. (1969), Sedimentological studies in the West Clare Namurian Basin, Ireland and the Mississippi Delta. Unpublished PhD thesis, Imperial College London.

Rider, M.H. (1974), The Namurian of West County Clare. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 74B, 125 142.

Rider, M.H. (1978), Growth faults in the Carboniferous of western Ireland. Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 62, 2191 2213.

Sevastopulo, G.D. (1981), Upper Carboniferous. In Holland, C.H. (ed.) A geology of Ireland. Scottish Academic Press, 173 199.

Wignall, P.B. and Best, J.L. (2000), The Western Irish Namurian Basin reassessed. Basin Research 12, 59 78.

Wignall, P.B. and Best, J.L. (2002), The Western Irish Namurian Basin reassessed – a discussion. Basin Research 14, 523 542.