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Metadata language: eng

Metadata character set: utf8

Last update: 2023-01-30

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Limitations of use: Data that is produced directly by the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) is free for use under the conditions of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcodeUnder the CC-BY Licence, users must acknowledge the source of the Information in their product or application.Please use this specific attribution statement: "Contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence".In cases where it is not practical to use the statement users may include a URI or hyperlink to a resource that contains the required attribution statement.

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Classification: unclassified

Metadata contact:

Role: pointOfContact

Individual's name: Information Management

Organization's name: Geological Survey Ireland

Contact's position: Head of Information Management

Contact information:

Phone:

Voice: +353-1-6782896

Address:

Delivery point: Block 1, Booterstown Hall, Booterstown, Blackrock
City: Dublin
Postal code: A94 N2R6
Country: IE
e-mail address: support@geodata.gov.ie

Online resource:

Name of resource: GSI Website
Online location: https://www.gsi.ie
Connection protocol: text/html
Function performed: information
Description: GSI Website

Scope of the data described by the metadata: dataset

Scope name: dataset

Name of the metadata standard used: INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules: Technical Guidelines based on EN ISO 19115 and EN ISO 19119

Version of the metadata standard: V. 2.0.1

Metadata identifier: MD_GE_GeomorphologicFeature_IE_GeologicalSurveyIreland_QuaternaryGeomorphology_50k_Ireland_ITM

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Reference date - creation: 2012-01-04

Date:

Reference date - publication: 2012-01-04

Date:

Reference date - revision: 2017-04-28

Presentation format: mapDigital

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Value: GE_GeomorphologicFeature_IE_GeologicalSurveyIreland_QuaternaryGeomorphology_50k_Ireland_ITM

Identifier authority citation:

Title: geodata.gov.ie

Date:

Reference date - creation: 2012-01-04

Date:

Reference date - publication: 2012-01-04

Date:

Reference date - revision: 2017-04-28

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Role: pointOfContact

Individual's name: Geological Mapping

Organization's name: Geological Survey Ireland

Contact's position: Head of Geological Mapping

Contact information:

Phone:

Voice: +353-1-6782896

Address:

Delivery point: Block 1, Booterstown Hall, Booterstown, Blackrock
City: Dublin
Postal code: A94 N2R6
Country: IE
e-mail address: support@geodata.gov.ie

Online resource:

Name of resource: GSI Website
Online location: https://www.gsi.ie
Connection protocol: text/html
Function performed: information
Description: GSI Website

Themes or categories of the resource: environment, geoscientificInformation, location

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Keywords: Ireland

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Alternate title: MDR-COUNTRIES

Date:

Reference date - publication: 2015-03-18

Edition: 20200624-0

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Keywords: Geology

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Alternate title: INSPIRE theme register

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Reference date - publication: 2008-06-01

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Keyword type not provided

Keywords: IE/GSI

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Alternate title: GCMD Data Center Keywords

Date:

Reference date - publication: 2016-08-04

Edition: 9.1.5

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Keywords: National

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Title:

Date:

Reference date - publication: 2019-05-22

Abstract: In terms of time scale in geology, Quaternary is the present-day time and it began 2.6 million years ago. A lot of this time period relates to the Ice Age. Quaternary geomorphology is the record of landscape features that were created in the last 2.6 million years. In Ireland, movement of glaciers and ice sheets created many of these features. The main features included are; erratic dispersion; landforms created under ice; landforms created at the ice margin and landforms created by mountain ice.An erratic is a rock which has been moved by ice and deposited in another location. Erratics are identified as the erractic rock type is different to the usual rocks found in that location. Geologists study the composition of erratics and can determine where the rock came from (the source). Once the source is known, the direction of ice flow can be determined (Inferred Erratic Path). The end of these erratic flow paths are termed erratic limits.Subglacial landforms are created beneath the ice. They were created during ice expansion. An example of these are drumlins. Drumlins are smooth, oval-shaped hills, shaped like a half-buried egg. They are made up of glacial till. As the glaciers retreated, they left these deposits behind. The exact process of drumlin formation is unknown. Mega-scale glacial lineations, like drumlins, are typically smooth hills of subglacially-deposited material, but are much longer. They are produced beneath zones of fast-flowing ice. Striae (Glacial striations) are scratches or gashes cut into bedrock by glacial movement, usually by particles embedded in glacier ice. They provide a reliable record of ice flow direction. Deglacial landforms are created at the ice margin. They were created during ice retreat. A moraine is material left behind by a moving glacier. Kame terraces, deltas and fans are all ice marginal landforms deposited by water issuing from a glacier.Landforms created by mountain ice include corries and trimlines. A corrie (cirque) is a half open, steep-sided round hollow made in the side of a mountain by the action of a glacier. A trimline is a clear line on the side of a valley formed by a glacier. The line marks the most recent highest extent of the glacier. The line may be visible due to changes in color to the rock or to changes in vegetation on either side of the line.Geologists map and record evidence during field visits, from air photographs and from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). This data along with boreholes (a deep narrow round hole drilled in the ground) and geophysics help to create the map. Areas are drawn on a map to show where features are found, lines are drawn to show the direction of other features and some features are shown as points. We collect new data to update our map and also use data from other sources.This map shows the currently mapped glacial landforms in Ireland.This map is to the scale 1:50,000. This means it should be viewed at that scale. When printed at that scale 1cm on the map relates to a distance of 500m.It is a vector dataset. Vector data portray the world using points, lines, and polygons (areas).Features include: erratic carriages (sources and sinks), subglacial landforms (lineations, striae and moraines), ice-marginal landforms (meltwater and deglacial and mountain glaciation (corries and trimlines).

Purpose: Glacial Landforms are important as they provide evidence about our past. They help us to understand how our environment has changed over time and how it may change in the future. The landforms include scenic sites such as corries and drumlins (Clew Bay). They are vital for learning purposes. The sites are real life examples which show the processes of how our landscape was created and so help us understand the principles of geology. The data is a useful resource to all levels of education from school children and on to third level colleges and research. Future research which may help to resolve current problems.

Dataset language:eng

Dataset character set: utf8

Status: onGoing

Resource maintenance:

Update frequency: irregular

Resource constraints:

General constraints:

Limitations of use: Data that is produced directly by the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) is free for use under the conditions of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcodeUnder the CC-BY Licence, users must acknowledge the source of the Information in their product or application.Please use this specific attribution statement: "Contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence".In cases where it is not practical to use the statement users may include a URI or hyperlink to a resource that contains the required attribution statement.

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Legal constraints:

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Classification: unclassified

Spatial representation type: vector

Processing environment: Esri ArcGIS 12.6.3.24783

Spatial resolution:

Equivalent scale:

Scale denominator: 50000

Spatial resolution:

Ground sample distance: 500

Units: m

Resource extent:

Temporal element:

Temporal extent:

2012-01-04T00:00:002017-04-28T00:00:00

Resource extent:

Geographic element:

Bounding rectangle:

Extent contains the resource: true
West longitude: -10.720016
East longitude: -5.36366
North latitude: 55.383569
South latitude: 51.408105

Credits: Geological Survey Ireland

Resource point of contact:

Role: pointOfContact

Individual's name: Geological Mapping

Organization's name: Geological Survey Ireland

Contact's position: Head of Geological Mapping

Contact information:

Phone:

Voice: +353-1-6782896

Address:

Delivery point: Block 1, Booterstown Hall, Booterstown, Blackrock
City: Dublin
Postal code: A94 N2R6
Country: IE
e-mail address: support@geodata.gov.ie

Online resource:

Name of resource: GSI Website
Online location: https://www.gsi.ie
Connection protocol: text/html
Function performed: information
Description: GSI Website

Spatial Representation

Vector Data

Level of topology for this dataset: geometryOnly

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Reference System Information

Reference system identifier:

Value: 2157

Identifier authority citation:

Title:

Alternate title: EPSG

Date:

Reference date - publication: 2004-04-07

Edition: 9.8.12

Code space: EPSG

Version: 6.5.3(8.1.2)

Data Quality

Scope of quality information:

Level of the data:dataset

Resource lineage:

Lineage statement: Since the mid-1800’s, the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) have undertaken a considerable and significant amount of work on Quaternary Mapping across Ireland. The project “Merging of Quaternary Map Datasets”, completed in 2013, represented a continuation of this work. Conventional Quaternary field mapping has been practised by Quaternary geologists both in Ireland and across the mid-latitudes since the mid-nineteenth century. These mapping programmes began as part of GSIs national mapping programme as walkover surveys in the nineteenth century, recording information on six-inch maps and collating this at desk for final map production. Such exercises were completed in various areas countrywide, often at a large scale and covering relatively small areas in great detail. The field mapping was extensive, and involved the walking of the entire landscape to produce a detailed geomorphological map, with sediment data recorded where possible. The lack of exposure was problematic, with railway cuttings, coastal exposures, stream gullies and borrow pits for gravel being the main sources of sedimentological and stratigraphic information. The six-inch scale maps produced were therefore excellent in depicting geomorphology but were somewhat lacking in sedimentological data. In the mid-twentieth century mapping became more focussed on information gathering over larger areas, with notable studies competed in south Monaghan and north Meath, Kerry and Limerick, among others. As mechanised excavations had begun being opened up in Ireland for the first time shortly before this, more exposure was found and the resultant maps had a much more holistic understanding of the Quaternary morphological-sedimentological relationships, and hence Quaternary history. Ground-breaking studies by Francis Synge of Quaternary Section, GSI put Irish Quaternary Geology on the international stage and a golden era of Quaternary studies began in the late 1950s, which extends to the present day. GSI was at the forefront of this drive throughout, with the development of both more extensive mapping projects (e.g. County Wicklow) and studies focussed on particular Quaternary uncertainties (e.g. PhD theses in County Kerry) leading the way. During the 1970s and 1980s the employment of vertical aerial photographs began in Irish Quaternary studies for the first time. These allowed the delineation and draw-up of initial Quaternary geomorphological maps before fieldwork, as well as the finalising of boundary lines just before final map draw-up. In this, conceptual models of the Quaternary landscape of any given area could be formulated pre-fieldwork, and there was an idea of what sediments would be encountered in various areas, depending on the landforms themselves. The finding and logging of exposures during field mapping further refined, or undermined, the model, meaning the remote sensing element led to a continual re-defining of Quaternary morpho-sedimentological relationships during and after fieldwork. County-scale mapping at 1:50,000 scale was practiced during the 1990s, in tandem with Groundwater Protection Scheme Mapping within GSI. In this, the historical development outlined above meant that the procedural protocol was an initial desk study of GSI Bedrock Geology six-inch sheets, Soil Survey maps, any Quaternary deposit maps (if available), and depth-to-bedrock data, followed by an extensive field mapping programme to check existing information and draw up the final boundaries. The mapping base used in the 1990s was the Ordnance Survey of Ireland 1:25,000 sheets, each covering 150 square kilometres. Archival data were compiled initially onto four separate maps (Quaternary geology, morphology, depth-to-bedrock and rock outcrop) at the 1:25,000 scale. The final Quaternary maps were digitised at this scale using the AutoCAD system. An important aspect of the 1990s mapping were the drilling and trenching programmes, which allowed for the ‘filling-in’ of areas with little or no exposure or depth-to-bedrock data. The detailed morphological map produced was an important component of the Quaternary ‘map’. The construction of the map was achieved by viewing the Geological Survey’s 1973 aerial photographs in 3-D under a stereoscope, and drawing morphology onto a clear overlay. The map showed interpreted drumlins, eskers, kames, kettle holes, moraines and meltwater channels as well as ridge crests, valley axes, escarpments, terraces and other breaks in slope. The landforms themselves, added to the Quaternary geology, help in reconstructing the nature of the glacial and deglacial pattern in the area, which is important in understanding the stratigraphy and sedimentology of the deposits. From this, before the GIS ‘revolution’ of the late 1990s, the Quaternary maps produced by GSI included several ‘layers’, each depicting different sets of information which is critical to the understanding of the three-dimensional Quaternary geology and Quaternary history of an area or region. The field time to desk time ratio of the mapping process was 3:1, meaning more effort was put into the capture of field information; this meant a relatively lengthy process in terms of generating map outputs. From 2003 GIS based DEM-orthophoto integration was incorporated to the mapping programme within the Quaternary Section of the GSI. Field time to desk time ratio was reduced to ca. 1:1. Moreover, geophysics were incorporated to the mapping program in a test basis during 2005-07, it was found that this technique aided speeding up the mapping process and gaining control on depth-to-bedrock and broad sediment classification (ERT) as well as inferring internal architecture of glaciofluvio-lacustrine sediments (GPR). The Merging of Quaternary Map Datasets Project began at the end of December 2011 and ran through to end of October 2013. Quaternary geomorphology The following features are included in the geomorphological coverages. All historical academic maps were digitised and the attribute fields within each given a link to the source of the data (whether DEM, academic paper, thesis, GSI Quaternary map, aerial photographs, landslide database, etc.). The features included comprise: • Trimlines: areas which were ice-free and stood up above the ice sheet as nunataks during the last glaciation, which have been recorded in a series of papers within the last few years by various British and Irish authors • Corries, mapped from DEM and aerial photographs, and also mentioned in places in various academic papers over the years. • Ribbed moraines, outlines guided by the glacial bedform mapping project undertaken by Sarah Greenwood and Chris Clark of University of Sheffield, whose dataset captured from 25m grid spacing DEM is being improved by digitising on top of a 10m grid DEM. All ribbed moraine extents have been newly digitised, though, using the 10m grid DEM. • Submarine ribbed moraines, present in Clew Bay and mapped using bathymetry data from the INFOMAR Project. • Minor ribbed moraines, which are a much smaller version of the (usually) large ribbed features, with the minor ones commonly less than 100m across and 5m-10m high. These had been mapped by GSI in Meath, Roscommon and Sligo previously, but not classified … their exact extents have been newly digitised. • Drumlins: crestlines in some cases as per the glacial bedform mapping project undertaken by Sarah Greenwood and Chris Clark of University of Sheffield, UK, but most newly digitised, with over 25,000 features captured. • Non-oriented bedforms, which usually form in the boundary areas between drumlinised ribbed moraines and discrete drumlins. • Striations, as collated by Mike Smith of Kingston University, UK, and including some new entries recently mapped by the author. • Crag and tails and streamlined bedrock forms, as digitised from the 10m grid DEM. • Mega-scale glacial lineations, also digitised from the 10m grid DEM. • Thrust block moraines, as mapped from the DEM where present. • Eskers ... complete countrywide coverage from Quaternary map and Teagasc subsoil database, as well as county surveys completed recently in Westmeath, Laois and Offaly. • Glaciofluvial terraces, which formed extensive sandar systems flanking Ireland’s major (current) rivers during deglaciation. • Hummocky sands and gravels, which have not yet been genetically characterised and/or interpreted. • Meltwater channels ... from historical academic papers and DEM analysis • Moraines ... historical interpretations of both ridges and belts of hummocky moraines, and mapped more recently using field work/DEM analysis. • Scanned limits of key glacigenic deposits, from historical papers ... this will chronicle how paradigms have changed in Irish Quaternary studies over the last 150 years • Deltas and fans , from Quaternary maps, Teagasc subsoil map and academic papers. • Kame terraces, from the same sources. • Glaciolacustrine deposits at surface and under peat bogs ... from Quaternary maps, Teagasc subsoil map and academic papers • Ice-dammed lakes, as above • Landslides, with areal extents of these disgitised on-screen using the latest aerial photograph imagery (OSi 2004, Google Earth, BING Maps) and correlated with the GSI landslides Database. • and limits of erratic dispersal flowlines, including information on the flows themselves and the extent of the erratic source bedrock lithologies, all digitised newly and adapted from the Irish Quaternary literature. The Glacial Geomorphology GIS contains tens of thousands of features split into thematic layers (as above), with individual features are attributed such that they can be traced back to their published or mapped sources, where relevant. Given that the published sources of information that underpin this work were derived by a piecemeal effort over 150 years then the main caveat is of data extent, consistency and reliability. However, this both highlights the fact that GSI is the store of the majority of the Quaternary data for Ireland (excepting that gathered by UK researchers), and also shows the high resolution and accuracy of past and current GSI Quaternary maps, which are field-scale (unlike many of the broad scale historical studies on, for example, moraines, eskers, etc.). METHODOLOGY Prior to the digitisation of geomorphological features, a backdrop was required on which to place digitised points, lines and polygons. A slope rendition of the DEM was generated, which shows the true form of the landscape, and an elevation rendition was also generated, to colour code altitude bands. Combined, these two raster coverages show landforms across the country exceptionally well. FEATURES FORMED DURING ICE EXPANSION. Glacial trimlines The first coverage digitised across the country was that of glacial trimlines. Data were used from Ballantyne et al. (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011), Brooks et al., (2008), McCabe (1985) and Mitchell (1992), and which mapped the vertical extent of the ice dome that covered Ireland during the last glaciation. Elevational trimlines as recorded in the above-mentioned papers were digitised using contour data and the DEM for the respective mountain summits. Data from the glacial trimline coverage across Ireland show that 76 individual nunataks stood up above the ice sheet during the last ice age, cumulatively covering 111.7 km2. The largest of these bare areas was across the Comeragh Mountains, where just under 18 km2 was ice-free. Other extensive ice free areas included the Galtee Mountains, the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, and Mangerton Mountain in Kerry. The highest ice trimline was around Lugnaquillia in Wicklow, where the ice was 850m thick, while the lowest was across Knocknadobhar in Kerry, where the ice trimline was at only 310m elevation. In all, ice free areas occurred in eleven counties during the last glaciation; Carlow, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Tipperary, Waterford, Wicklow and Wexford. Corries Corries were also digitised. Many corries in the country had been referenced in various academic papers over the years (e.g. Synge, 1968; Coxon and Browne, 1991) but many corries were not previously mentioned. This had led to an underestimation of the number of corries in the pilot county of Mayo (in his paper in 1968 Francis Synge stated that there were about sixty corries in West Mayo; in reality the number is eighty-nine); it was expected that a similar underestimation would be seen across the country. Corries were digitised using a combination of partially transparent DEM data, overlying the aerial photographs which allowed the backwall to be clearly picked out and drawn-upon. Where the corries have individual placenames this was included in the attribute fields; where no existed the corrie was recorded as ‘Unnamed’. Almost 50% of the corries digitised had names e.g. Devil’s Punch Bowl, Coumshingaun, The Coom. The depth of backwall within each corrie was listed as an attribute field also. As well as these attributes, if the feature had been referenced previously in an academic paper, the source was given as one of the attribute fields also. In total 777 corries occur across Ireland, in 13 counties; Carlow, Cavan, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow. There are over 350 corries in Kerry alone, with 70 on the Dingle Peninsula. The deepest backwalls countrywide are at Lough Calee Corrie and Curraghmore in Kerry, where the backwall in each corrie is 700m deep. The shallowest corrie features occupy hanging valleys in the mountains of Kerry, Cork and Mayo, with depths of only 70m-80m. Erratic carriages The occurrence of boulders far removed from their bedrock source has long been recognised as firm evidence for glacial transportation. Many erratic trains have an immediately obvious provenance where they emanate directly from their source outcrop. These erratic trains can be used to construct former transportation pathways, and therefore glacial flowlines. Indicator erratics are those for which a definite source area is known, and indicator erratic paths show the direction of movement to a known erratic train. The end of these erratic flow paths are termed erratic limits. A number of important indicator erratics occur across Ireland, for example the Crossdoney Granite in Cavan, Galway Granite, Wicklow Granite and the Inch Conglomerate in Kerry. All have been subject to intense scrutiny in the historic glacial literature for Ireland. Within the database, the source areas for indicator erratics in Ireland have been digitised, as well as flow paths and erratic limits. References for each erratic carriage in the glacial literature, as well as the exact petrology of the source rock, have been included in the attribute fields. Subglacial erosional forms - striations Subglacial erosional forms have been digitised as part of the geomorphological coverage, the smallest of which are striations. Striations are scratches incised into bedrock or clast surfaces, scored by particles embedded in glacier ice, and a direct result of glacial abrasion. When seen on a bedrock surface, they therefore provide a faithful record of former ice flow direction. In 2008 Dr. Mike Smith of Kingston University in the UK unified all available published and unpubished archives of striation observations from Ireland into one database. These data were collected since approx. 1850 on GSI maps and in memoirs, in published (peer-reviewed) literature, and in unpublished works such as theses and endnotes. The database was georeferenced to Irish national Grid, with the accuracy of individual observations qualitatively assessed. This database has kindly been provided by Dr. Smith for use in the current work, and following a short period of manipulation of the data they are now useable for the entire Ireland of Ireland as part of the current mapping process. As well as these data, a number of striations newly-mapped by the author during recent work in Kilkenny and Roscommon have also been included. There are a total of 5,083 striations in the countrywide database. Subglacial bedforms – ribbed moraines Ribbed moraines lie at the other end of the scale to striations in terms of size, and are the largest subglacial bedforms recognised in Ireland. Ribbed moraines are arcuate bedforms lying transverse to former ice flow, and may be up to 70m high, 1 kilometre wide and up to 20 kilometres long. Eight fields of ribbed moraines occur across Ireland, with a number of smaller groupings also in evidence. The largest ribbed moraine field in the world stretches from Sligo and Roscommon across to County Lough, with large fields of features also around Clew Bay, Ballina, east Galway, northeast Clare, mid Clare, east Clare and south Donegal. Notably, the Clew Bay drumlin field is erroneously labelled such and is actually a field of nested ribbed moraines, recording ice flows towards the northwest during the last glacial maximum. All of these fields of ribbed moraines were digitised by Sarah Greenwood and Chris Clark for their published paper in 2009, which maps the subglacial bedforms of the last Irish ice Sheet. However, this digitisation was completed on the Landmap and SRTM DEMs, which have a grid spacing of 25m and 90m respectively. The 10m DEM of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, which was available for use in the current project by GSI, has much greater resolution and shows many more features than these DEMS; as well as this, this is correct to Irish National Grid whereas the mapping of Greenwood and Clark was not. From this, a much greater level of detail is possible in digitising the current set of bedforms from this 10m grid spacing DEM. Part of the Clew Bay ribbed moraines have been drowned by the Atlantic Ocean, following sea level rise at the end of the last ice age. As a consequence, they form a series of narrow, elongate islands in the bay itself. This means that many larger, buried ribbed moraines are also in evidence under the sea surface. With the advent of marine LIDAR technology, which has been employed by the INFOMAR Project in GSI to map several of the inshore bays around the Irish Coast, these buried ribbed moraines could also be digitised. This then means that an almost-complete coverage of ribbed moraines around and under the bay water has been recorded as part of the current project. In total, there are over 4.000 ribbed moraines on land and just over 100 submarine, in Ireland. The longest feature, half way between Westport and Newport in Mayo, is up to 10 kilometres long, and the highest feature, just northeast of Westport, is 65m in height from toeslope to summit. In some cases the marine environment increases the preservation potential of subglacial features. The onshore dataset being developed, coupled with the undisturbed nature of features in the marine environment and the immensely detailed bathymetric data, could form the basis of an extended National Geomorphology map that would take in the territorial waters and give a more comprehensive insight into Quaternary processes, as well as advancing genetic models of same. A separate shapefile in the Quaternary GIS database shows minor ribbed moraines, which are arcuate bedforms transverse to former ice flow but which are much smaller than their ‘major’; counterpart, usually up to 15m high, 150 m wide and up to 500 m long. These are seen in five discrete clusters in Ireland, in counties Mayo, Meath, Leitrim and Roscommon (two clusters, see all five clusters on Figure 27). Subglacial bedforms – glacial lineations (drumlins) Drumlins or streamlined glacial lineations are typically smooth, oval-shaped hills or hillocks of subglacially-deposited material, resembling in morphology an inverted spoon or a half buried egg. Drumlin long-axes are oriented parallel to the direction of ice flow, with higher and wider stoss ends which taper down to a pointed lee end. Generally drumlins are up to 1 kilometre long, 300m-400m wide, and up to 30m high. Drumlins occur across the lowlands of Ireland, in every county. The largest concentrations are across Cavan-Monaghan, Mayo and Clare, but impressive concentrations also occur in Galway, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Louth, Meath and Longford. Many localised variations of ice flows are recorded by the drumlins. The drumlins of the county were digitised by Sarah Greenwood and Chris Clark for their published paper in 2009, which maps the subglacial bedforms of the last Irish ice Sheet. However, this digitisation was completed on the Landmap and SRTM DEMs, which have a grid spacing of 25m and 90m respectively. The 10m DEM of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, which is available for use in the current project by GSI, has much greater resolution and shows many more features than these DEMS; as well as this, this is correct to Irish National Grid whereas the mapping of Greenwood and Clark was not. From this, a much greater level of detail is possible in digitising the current set of bedforms from this 10m grid spacing DEM. In total, there are just under 25,000 drumlins throughout Ireland. It should be noted that this is more than 5,000 more than that recorded by the mapping of Greenwood and Clark in 2009. The average length of the features is 660m, and they are usually 15m-25m high. In places where cross-cutting glacial lineations occur it can be difficult to determine the exact form of the landscape and to separate out different flow sets. In such a case, northeast and northwest shaded versions of the DEM were used to try to bring out the features true morphology and flow set planes. Subglacial bedforms – streamlined bedrock forms and crag and tails Crag and tails are elongate, streamlined hills consisting of a resistant bedrock crag at the up-ice end, and a tapering tail of subglacially-deposited till extending down-ice. Where the tail is formed of less resistant rock, the feature forms a streamlined bedrock ridge. The long-axes of both features, like drumlins, are oriented parallel to the direction of ice flow, with higher and wider stoss ends which taper down to a pointed lee end. Generally crag-and-tails are up to 5 kilometres long, 500m-800m wide, and up to 100m high. Crag and tails and streamlined bedrock ridges occur around the uplands of Ireland where isolated bedrock hills provided obstructions to basal ice flow. Streamlined bedrock ridges are especially common in Donegal, Kerry, Cork and Waterford where Dalradian and Old Red Sandstones rocks were particularly resistant to ice flow. Crag-and-tails are common in the east Midlands where various limestone facies have been moulded into crags, and tails of sediment deposited down-ice. With both sets of features, many localised variations of ice flow occur. In total, there are over 9,150 streamlined bedrock ridges across Ireland, and just over 1,300 crag and tails. This is more than thirty five times the number of streamlined bedrock ridges recorded by the mapping of Greenwood and Clark in 2009, and over three times the number of crag and tails. The average length of the streamlined bedrock ridges is 1,010m, and they are usually 55m-115m high. The average length of the crag and tails is 1,585m, and these are usually 30m-80m in elevation. Subglacial bedforms – mega-scale glacial lineations Mega-scale glacial lineations, like drumlins, are typically smooth hills of subglacially-deposited material, but have very elongate long-axes which may be between 3 and 80 kilometres long. Again, long-axes are oriented parallel to the direction of ice flow. There are 307 mega-scale glacial lineations across Ireland, with over half of these in Mayo. Other significant clusters occur in Meath and Dublin, and elsewhere they generally occur in lowland areas between higher upland ridges, around the Central Plain. The total number of the features mapped is more than three times the amount recorded by Greenwood and Clark (2009). The average length of the features is 4,450 metres, with the longest feature over 11 km long, just north of the Broad Meadow Valley in Dublin. In totality, including striations, drumlins, minor ribbed moraines, major ribbed moraines, submarine ribbed moraines, streamlined bedrock ridges, crag and tails and mega-scale glacial lineations, there are therefore 40,289 large-scale subglacial bedforms across Ireland, and over 5,000 striations. FEATURES FORMED DURING ICE RETREAT. Deglacial features – thrust block moraines Thrust block moraines are the most common and distinctive type of glaciotectonic landforms. Glaciotectonic processes excavate and elevate proglacial materials, and the ridges are formed from multiple slices of up-thrust and contorted bedrock and/or unconsolidated sediments, which are commonly interlayered with and overlain by glaciofluvial sediment. A series of thrust block moraines have been recognised in north County Mayo around Killala, and are between 500m and 5000m long and usually 400m-500m wide. Their internal sediments are exposed well along the beach at Inishcrone and around the former Asahi Plant at Killala. They are generally 15m-25m high, and give the landscape a corrugated feel. In total there are 75 composite thrust block moraines in this area of north County Mayo, with the only other feature in Ireland at Kilbride in southeast County Meath. Deglacial features – eskers and meltwater channels Eskers are elongate, sinuous ridges of glaciofluvial sands and gravels, which are the infillings of ice-walled river channels, and may record deposition in subglacial, englacial or supraglacial drainage networks. Eskers are usually composed of coarse sands and gravels, and are exceptionally well drained features with only a thin covering of soil. Their planform provides a snapshot of the geometry of the subglacial drainage network during deglaciation. Eskers are common across the Central lowlands of Ireland, and are present in all counties except Donegal, Waterford, Wexford and Kerry. They are generally 10m-20m high and 100m-250m wide, with individual segments up to 10 kilometres long. They generally occur as parts of esker systems, which show faithfully the drainage network geometry at the base of the last ice sheet to cover Ireland. In total, there are 1,977 individual esker segments across the country, with three regional systems and several less extensive ones. These esker sands and gravels cover just over 90 km2 in area. Eskers often occur in close association with meltwater channels, particularly nye channels, which are erosional features cut in bedrock and consolidated sediments by subglacial drainage. Most extend for a few tens to a few thousands of metres, and are up to a few tens of metres wide. They may be straight and discrete or may form a network of dendritic forms. They are common across the island of Ireland, with the deepest channels up to 150m deep, but they generally cut 20m-30m into the landscape. There are 3,612 mapped nye channels across Ireland. The longest of these are now occupied by the lower reaches of the Boyne, Barrow, Nore, Suir and Slaney Rivers; all are several kilometres long. In general the channels occur on the rocks nowadays considered as poor aquifers, therefore generally concentrated around the edges of the island cut into higher ground. Interestingly, they are almost mutually exclusive of eskers, with the latter feature generally forming on limestone. This pattern, where eskers occur on ‘well drained’ limestone and meltwater nye channels occur on bedrock with poor drainage and permeability, is well seen in east County Mayo, with a particularly fine set of channels occurring in tandem with the eskers near Charlestown (Figure 39). Deglacial features – recessional and corrie moraines Recessional and corrie moraines ridges demarcate former ice margins, where a complex interaction of glacigenic and paraglacial processes have combined to form a ridge across that former edge. Recessional moraines are particularly well expressed, and well researched and mapped, in montane regions in Ireland. There is therefore an abundance of geomorphological mapping records, sedimentological data, and interpreted ice retreat patterns drawn up for many of our mountain ranges. A number of academic theses have been completed on the glaciations of the Nephin Beg range and Macgillcuddy’s Reeks ranges, with corries and corrie moraines, as well as other features, mapped out. Much academic research has also been completed in recent years on the valley glaciations of the Sheeffry Hills, Partry Mountains, Donegal Uplands and Wicklow valleys. In capturing these data, the published maps from these and academic papers have been georeferenced and the features then digitised on top of this. In many cases the DEM is also used to give the ‘true’; outline of the feature mapped. In total, just over 2,500 individual recessional or corrie moraine ridges have been digitised across Ireland. The largest and most extensive features are in north Donegal (Cullen, 2012), some of which cover over 10 km2, and perhaps the most impressive cluster centred around Caragh Lough in Kerry (after Warren, 1977). Deglacial features – hummocky moraine Hummocky moraine is a strongly undulating surface of ground moraine, with a relative relief of up to 10 m, and showing steep slopes, deep, enclosed depressions and incised channels. Hummocky moraine may have differing genetic origins, such as resulting from deposition of crevasse infill sediments, glaciotectonic deformation, or from the downwasting of ice which may be stagnant or active. The hummocky moraine mapped across the Irish landmass is so defined on a purely descriptive basis, and therefore applies to moundy, irregular morainic topography exhibiting various degrees of order, but not having been studied in any great detail and therefore not currently understood genetically. Expanses of such material are common in the mountains of Donegal, Kerry, Cork and Sligo, as well as along the southern extent of the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth. The extent of hummocky moraine mapped across Ireland is shown in Figure 43. Deglacial features – hummocky sands and gravels Hummocky sands and gravels are moundy, irregular meltwater deposits, of haphazard topography but exhibiting various degrees of order, which have not been studied in any great detail, and therefore not currently understood genetically. Expanses of such material occur in every county in Ireland, and given that detailed sedimentological and morphological studies have been carried out on a very small proportion of the sand and gravel ‘stock’, are the most dominant type of meltwater deposit mapped in the Irish Quaternary geomorphology database. The extent of hummocky sands and gravels mapped across Ireland is shown in Figure 44. Deglacial features – glaciofluvial terraces Glaciofluvial terraces are component parts of outwash plains, or sandar features. Outwash plains/sandar are comprised of well sorted and bedded sand and gravel deposits, usually laid down in braided rivers at the front of an ice margin. Many sandar in Ireland actually comprise valley trains, hemmed in on each side by higher, pre-existing bedrock-cored ridges. Glaciofluvial terraces occur along the majority of the major, modern day river valleys, particularly in the south and east of the country. The features are less well developed in the west and the north, where extensive outwash rivers did not form owing to either drumlin topography dominating, or the presence of valley glaciers which mean a different set of landsystems emerge. Deglacial features – kame terraces, deltas and fans Kame terraces, deltas and fans are all ice marginal features deposited by water issuing from a glacier. Kame terraces form when a river issues from the side of an ice mass, hemmed up against a valley side, and deposits material as a terrace along the side of the valley. Deltas form when running glaciofluvial water meets a glacial lake and a delta forms at the mouth of the lake: when the ice sheet retreats the delta ridge is left high and dry as a hill of sand and gravel. Fans form in a similar fashion, where a river issues off a glacier either into deep water or subaerially, depositing beds of sand and gravel material which is again left high and dry above the surrounding landscape when the glacier melts. Fans are most common in lowland areas around the Midlands of Ireland, while deltas tended to form adjacent to uplands where meltwater would become ponded and a glacier lake formed. Kame terraces, through uncommon, are also concentrated in upland regions. It should be noted that there are many features across Ireland which are mapped a ‘hummocky sands and gravels’ which may in fact be deltas, fans or kame terraces, but have not yet been interpreted as such as they have not been studied in any detail, or because exposure into the features is poor. The final output included the following geomorphological features. All historical academic maps are being digitised and the attribute fields within each give a link to the source of the data (whether DEM, academic paper, thesis, GSI Quaternary map, aerial photographs, landslide database, etc.). The features included comprise: • Trimlines: areas which were ice-free and stood up above the ice sheet as nunataks during the last glaciation, which have been recorded in a series of papers within the last few years by various British and Irish authors • Corries, mapped from DEM and aerial photographs, and also mentioned in places in various academic papers over the years. • Ribbed moraines, outlines guided by the glacial bedform mapping project undertaken by Sarah Greenwood and Chris Clark of University of Sheffield, whose dataset captured from 25m grid spacing DEM is being improved by digitising on top of a 10m grid DEM. All ribbed moraine extents have been newly digitised, though, using the 10m grid DEM. • Submarine ribbed moraines, present in Clew Bay and mapped using bathymetry data from the INFOMAR Project. • Minor ribbed moraines, which are a much smaller version of the (usually) large ribbed features, with the minor ones commonly less than 100m across and 5m-10m high. These had been mapped by GSI in Meath, Roscommon and Sligo previously, but not classified … their exact extents have been newly digitised. • Drumlins: crestlines in some cases as per the glacial bedform mapping project undertaken by Sarah Greenwood and Chris Clark of University of Sheffield, UK, but most newly digitised, with over 25,000 features captured. • Non-oriented bedforms, which usually form in the boundary areas between drumlinised ribbed moraines and discrete drumlins. • Striations, as collated by Mike Smith of Kingston University, UK, and including some new entries recently mapped by the author. • Crag and tails and streamlined bedrock forms, as digitised from the 10m grid DEM. • Mega-scale glacial lineations, also digitised from the 10m grid DEM. • Thrust block moraines, as mapped from the DEM where present. • Eskers ... complete countrywide coverage from Quaternary map and Teagasc subsoil database, as well as county surveys completed recently in Westmeath, Laois and Offaly. • Glaciofluvial terraces, which formed extensive sandar systems flanking Ireland’s major (current) rivers during deglaciation. • Hummocky sands and gravels, which have not yet been genetically characterised and/or interpreted. • Meltwater channels ... from historical academic papers and DEM analysis • Moraines ... historical interpretations of both ridges and belts of hummocky moraines, and mapped more recently using field work/DEM analysis. • Scanned limits of key glacigenic deposits, from historical papers ... this will chronicle how paradigms have changed in Irish Quaternary studies over the last 150 years • Deltas and fans , from Quaternary maps, Teagasc subsoil map and academic papers. • Kame terraces, from the same sources. • Glaciolacustrine deposits at surface and under peat bogs ... from Quaternary maps, Teagasc subsoil map and academic papers • Ice-dammed lakes, as above • Landslides, with areal extents of these disgitised on-screen using the latest aerial photograph imagery (OSi 2004, Google Earth, BING Maps) and correlated with the GSI landslides Database. • and limits of erratic dispersal flowlines, including information on the flows themselves and the extent of the erratic source bedrock lithologies, all digitised newly and adapted from the Irish Quaternary literature. Data collected within the Geological Mapping Unit - Quaternary sediments and geomorphology mapping project IQUAD2014 (Lough Allen Area); IQUAD2015 (Cavan Lake District); IQUAD2016 (Parts of Cos. Monaghan, Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon) and; IQUAD2017 (Parts of Cos. Roscommon, Offaly,Longford and Galway) was subsequently used to update the datasets with the relevant new data collected during the respective field campaigns. In 2024, the data structure was reviewed and a new database was created in ArcGIS Enterprise. Using ArcGIS Pro 3.2.1, the datasets were renamed as part of a GSI data standardisation process. A unique id field was added. A new unique identifier was added for each record using an attribute rule. The fields were renamed and an alias added. Domains were created for some fields to ensure attribute integrity for those fields. The attribute values can only be added from pre-defined GSI tables. All existing attributes and the geometry were checked. Attribute errors were corrected. Metadata was updated to the new GSI standard based on INSPIRE and ISO standards.

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Meaning of the result: The INSPIRE Directive or INSPIRE lays down a general framework for a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of European Community environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.

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Alternate title: D2.8.II.4 Data Specification on Geology - Technical Guidelines

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Reference date - publication: 2010-12-08

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Alternate title: COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

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Alternate title: COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1205/2008 of 3 December 2008 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards metadata

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Reference date - publication: 2010-12-08

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