Six Common Kinds of Rock from Ireland Fully revised and illustrated second edition Ian Sanders Published by the Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, to mark the International Year of Planet Earth, 2008 Preface and Acknowledgements These notes and accompanying rock samples are a teaching resource supplied free of charge to primary and secondary schools throughout Ireland. The notes aim to give plain facts and explanations for teachers wishing to understand more about rocks, whether they are teaching classes in the examination years of secondary school, or in the early years of primary education. The notes also cover the geology component of Core Unit 1 in the new (2004) syllabus for the Leaving Certificate Examination in Geography. Please pass the samples around the class and handle them. If they get grubby with use, they will respond to gentle scrubbing in warm soapy water! To obtain further copies of this booklet and to ask for extra rock samples visit: www.tcd.ie/geology/outreach/ Students and staff at the Department of Geology in Trinity College who prepared the rock samples (more than 60,000 pieces in total) are grateful to the following people for their kind permission to collect material: Alan French of Hill Street Quarries, Arigna, County Leitrim, Eddie Power of Ormonde Brick Ltd, Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, Luis Grijalva of Whelan’s Limestone Quarries, Ennis, County Clare, Gary Flaherty of Whitemountain Quarry, Lisburn, County Antrim, Colm Walsh of Walsh’s Granite Quarry, Stepaside, County Dublin. Photograph credits: Peter Coxon (Figs 10, 21), George Sevastopulo (Figs 7, 19), John Graham (Figs 6, 8) and Juan Carlos (Fig. 9). The project has the support of the Royal Irish Academy’s Geoscience Committee. It was part funded through a Griffith Geoscience Research Award, grant-aided by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources under the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2006 to 2013 and the National Geoscience Programme 2007- 2013. The views expressed in this study are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. A donation from Quinn Group is gratefully acknowledged. ©Ian Sanders 2007 Revised second edition published 2007 by the Department of Geology, Trinity College, Dublin ISBN 0 9521066 6 3 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical without prior written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provision of the Copyright Act. Contents Prelude: the Great Sugar Loaf Myth 1 Introduction 1.1 Where not to begin 4 1.2 Handling and storing the rock samples 4 1.3 Looking at rock in the open: finding exposed bedrock 5 1.4 The Ice Age and the source of the sand and clay 6 2 The six kinds of rock: their sources, uses and descriptions 8 sandstone; mudstone; limestone; basalt; granite; schist 3 How were the six kinds of rock made? 3.1 Sandstone, mudstone and limestone – sedimentary rocks 11 sandstone; mudstone; limestone; sedimentary rocks in general; sedimentary layers 3.2 Basalt and granite – igneous rocks 16 basalt; granite; igneous rocks in general; the chemical composition of magma; the mantle and continental crust as magma sources 3.3 Schist and metamorphic rocks 22 schist; metamorphic rocks in general; metamorphism and mountain building 3.4 Partial melting and the rock cycle 24 4 Geological time 26 5 The geology of Ireland 5.1 The geological map of Ireland 27 5.2 Ireland’s geological history 28 6 Further interesting things about rocks 6.1 Life in tropical Carboniferous seas 31 6.2 Making Ireland’s mountains by erosion 32 6.3 Water, oil and gas in porous sandstone 34 6.4 Formation of zinc and lead ore in Ireland 36 6.5 How is the age of granite measured? 37 6.6 How can liquid basalt come out of solid mantle? 39 7 The unifying mechanism: plate tectonics 41 tectonics; where plates are moving apart; where plates converge; subsidence and uplift 8 Ideas for class work 46 9 Further information and reading 47 10 Index of technical terms 48 1 Prelude: the Great Sugar Loaf Myth Some twenty five years ago my daughter showed me a picture in her junior school text book of the familiar cone-shaped summit of the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain in County Wicklow. She was fascinated to learn from the picture’s caption that the mountain had once, long ago, been an active volcano. The mountain, however, was never a volcano: it acquired its distinctive shape through erosion. The rock from which it is made is particularly hard sandstone. The surrounding rocks are softer, and over a long period of time they have been worn away leaving the more resistant sandstone to stick out as a sharp peak. Today the romantic, though erroneous, idea of ash and red hot lava spewing forth over the gentle Wicklow countryside lives on. The myth is not easily dispelled. It survives, perhaps, because of a natural fascination with the prehistoric past and with the fiery violence of volcanoes. In providing this booklet and accompanying rock samples I aim to explain just how Ireland’s ancient landscape evolved, and how the underlying rocks were made. Handling actual pieces of rock will, I hope, make the explanations more tangible, and reinforce the truth that the rocks are incredibly old, that they have been deeply buried, and that some of them did, after all, come from volcanoes. Geology, the study of rocks, is more important today than it has ever been. The year 2008 has been designated International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) by the United Nations General Assembly, meeting in New York. The urgent aim of IYPE is to foster a global understanding of geology, so that we may all become more keenly aware of what we can do, and what we cannot do, with the materials of the Earth – fuel, water, metals – if we are to preserve our planet for future generations. Ian Sanders September 2007 2 The Great Sugar Loaf Mountain in County Wicklow, pictured above, is not an extinct volcano, as its cone-shaped appearance might suggest. It has a prominent peak because it is made from a huge block of hard sandstone surrounded by softer rocks. Over a very long period of time, erosion has selectively removed the softer rocks, leaving the hard sandstone standing proud. Many other mountain peaks in Ireland have a similar origin to the Great Sugar Loaf. Among these are Errigal in County Donegal, Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, the Twelve Bens in Connemara, and the Kerry Mountains. 3 1 Introduction 1.1 Where not to begin Geography books at school often begin the section on rocks with the theory of plate tectonics. But to start there is probably not the best way to get to understand geology. It is perhaps better to begin by just looking at rocks and becoming familiar with their characteristics and their uses. After this, it should be much easier, and more interesting too, to learn about how rocks were formed, how old they are, and what they tell us about the changing pattern of land and sea over the great expanse of geological time. Only then, after getting a basic feeling for what rocks are about, does the elegance of the plate tectonic theory – which weaves together so many different strands of geology – come into its own. The plate tectonic theory is the ‘Summary and Conclusions’ section of the story, not the introduction. To kick off with plate tectonics is rather like being told the ending to a good novel – it spoils the fun of seeing the plot unfold. 1.2 Handling and storing the rock samples Two pieces of each kind of rock are included in the set. (Additional pieces will be supplied on request, for the cost of postage, for as long as stocks remain; visit the website, www.tcd.ie/geology/outreach/ for details). The rock samples should be passed around and handled by every member of the class. To avoid confusion, each piece has been spotted with coloured paint, as follows: Sandstone yellow Mudstone lilac Limestone blue Basalt green Granite red Schist orange Before using the rock samples for the first time, check them for sharp, jagged edges. These should be rubbed smooth against a rough surface, such as a concrete block, to avoid minor cuts and to protect the plastic storage bag. Although the rocks are hard, they will become bruised and dusty if they are allowed to bang against each other. The mudstone samples are most vulnerable and have been packed in a small bag of their own to help preserve them. You might consider storing the rocks in a rigid container such as a biscuit tin or lunch box, or perhaps a specially made wooden tray divided into labelled sections. If the specimens become dirty or greasy from continued handling, they may be cleaned by brushing them in warm soapy water and drying them off with a soft cloth or paper tissues. 4 1.3 Looking at rocks in the open: finding exposed bedrock Handling rock samples is a good way to start, but it is even better to get out into the open air and look at rocks ‘in the field’. Where do rocks occur? Believe it or not, wherever you go in Ireland you are never far away from solid rock, but you rarely see it because it is usually just below the surface. The next time you pass a large, freshly dug hole in the ground, take a closer look.