Aghnadarragh
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Geology & landscape
Geological Period: Quaternary
Landscape processes: Glacial
Description
Aghnadarragh Pleistocene The excavation of a pit for the purposes of extraction of Tertiary lignite, some 30 Midlandian Cold Stage c.120,000-10,000 years ago in Ireland. Sections comprise a million years old, revealed the most complete stratigraphy known from the stratigraphy recording an early Midlandian ice advance, a long period of warmer interstadial and cool conditions, followed by the Late Midlandian glaciation. The non glacial episodes represent a wide range of shallow water depositional settings, Mammuthus primigenius, these being the oldest known remains in Ireland of this recorded by detrital peats, and a gravely horizon rich in the remains of the Mammoth species. The horizon containing the mammoth remains is the type locality for the Aghnadarragh Interstadial. Recently, remains of musk ox, Ovibos moschatus, have been identified from the site, being the first record of this species from Ireland. The site is of importance in the context of the British Isles as its stratigraphic complexity and length ofrecord is unique. It is the only site documenting climatic oscillations during the last Midlandian cold stage, while the range of date determinations provide a framework for Late Midlandian events in Ireland. Further, the palaeobotanical record is unique in Ireland and provides a yardstick for comparisons with critical sites in England, as well as highlighting both the arguments surrounding reworking of earlier biological detritus and the difficulty of non-sequence recognition. The site provides the only profile of any length which contains evidence for large scale resolution of climatic cycles and ice sheet reconstruction from this sector of north-west Europe. A major result has been the recognition of ice sheet growth early in the last Cold Stage and extension of the growing idea of rapid environmental change within this period. Finally, the anticlinal structure in the lignite provides the only known evidence in Northern Ireland for bedrock deformation due to intense glaciotectonic action. https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/aghnadarragh-assi