Fardross Stream

Also within

Tyrone County

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Rock Outcrop · Geological Period: Carboniferous · Rock Type: Limestone, Sandstone, Shale

Description

Fardross Stream Carboniferous stratigraphy The succession ofrocks exposed in Fardross Stream cover five formations of the Lower Carboniferous Tyrone Group and range in age from the mid-Arundian, some 339 million years old M.y. to Asbian, some 335 M.y. It is extremely rare to find a rock exposure revealing more than a small part of one geological formation of the Tyrone Group and it is even more unusual for such an exposure to reveal a contact between two adjacent formations. The section at Fardross uniquely contains representative sections of five such formations being, from oldest to youngest, the Bundoran Shale, Mullaghmore Sandstone, Benbulben Shale, Glencar Limestone and Dartry Limestone formations. Such contacts are important as they define periods of environmental change and ideally allow more precise dating of these boundaries. Because of unusual structural conditions at Fardross, the rock series are positioned vertically thus explaining the extent of formations present here. The origins of these rocks can be determined by examining the type of material from which they are made and the fossils they contain. Such evidence indicates that the Fardross series are all marine in origin, representing a shallow water and near-shore setting with a progressive reduction in input of sands and muds, to a point where limestone development predominated. Rich fossil assemblages are present at a number of levels and include colonial and solitary corals and brachiopods. https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/fardross-stream-assi

Plant communities