Ireland is composed of two separate halves that were welded together during a continental collision some 420 million years ago.
Ireland is composed of two separate halves that were welded together during a continental collision some 420 million years ago.
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“Some 450 million years ago north-west Ireland belonged to an ancient landmass called Laurentia. Most of the remains of that landmass now comprise North America. South-east Ireland lay several thousand kilometres to the south and belonged to another ancient landmass called Avalonia.The two halves of Ireland were separated by an ocean but were slowly moving towards each other. As they drew closer, the two moving parts of Ireland pinched out the ocean between them. They eventually crashed welding themselves to each other to form the united landmass that is now the island of Ireland.The seam of the weld between the two halves of Ireland runs cross-country from the seaside fishing village of Clogherhead in Co Louth in the east to Limerick city and the Shannon estuary in the west. The seam is covered with a thick blanket of soil so it is not an obvious feature in the landscape.” [https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/lifestyle/the-island-of-ireland-is-made-of-two-halves-41251833.html](https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/lifestyle/the-island-of-ireland-is-made-of-two-halves-41251833.html)
[https://www.gsi.ie/en-ie/geoscience-topics/geology/Pages/Geology-of-Ireland.aspx#:~:text=Hundreds%20of%20millions%20of%20years,parts%20of%20modern%20North%20American](https://www.gsi.ie/en-ie/geoscience-topics/geology/Pages/Geology-of-Ireland.aspx#:~:text=Hundreds%20of%20millions%20of%20years,parts%20of%20modern%20North%20American).
I remember when this happened
Can’t wait for this to feature on Reeling in the Years.
I declare Castlebar as the new Capital of the northern part of Ireland.
A true “hard border”. Fucking Brits.
Make Wexford Yola again
There’s a spot in Connemara where you see the two plates against each other
if you look at the International Time Zone chart, Ireland actually falls into two, the East side of the Isle is GMT and the west is -1GMT.
Glancing at the terrain of Scotland the conteinental plate-smashing is even more clearly visible. Look SW of Inverness, following down Loch Ness and onward towards Ireland.
See, Leitrim didn’t exist then either.
To hell or Laurentia
Why isn’t there a load of fold mountains in the middle then?
When I saw this post I thought it was about how this country is split ideallogicly 😂
Rare pollen samples from Ireland before the Ice Age show that we had much the same vegetation as the eastern side of North America (and perhaps much the same fauna) that was wiped out by subsequent glaciation.
Isnt this why there are gold mines in Tyrone / Derry?
In mythology ireland was divided by the sons of mil, Eremin got the north and Eber got the south, divided by the boyne as per this map.
I wonder how much the differing geology contributed to that
All the craic is in the Laurentian margin
What’s really gonna bake your noodle later on is that when this happened, we were south of the equator.
Ohhh I did not realise the split ran that far south/west.
Can you see where the plates meet in Connemara? I remember being wowed by the change in the landscape on the bus from Galway to Clifden the first time. There’s literally a line across the landscape where the vegetation changes and the land changes in colour from greens to brown.
I notice the land changes on the approach to…would it be Dundalk? along the lines of that suture that’s marked. The Long Woman’s Grave (Louth, I think) is one of the more noticeable spots where you can see this, I suspect.
I’m honestly not sure if any of what I’ve observed is consistent with the geological facts though. Thanks for posting this, fascinating
Up the Lapetus Suturers!
My brother is a great man on the welder, but I don’t think even he could manage that.
If you ever see a map of Pangea, we are pretty much at the dead-centre of it. If continental drift ever reverses itself in fast-forward, we’re going to be in such a prime location.
Yeah, but which side was protestant?
There’s a continuation of the applachian trail in Ireland based on the fact it was the same geographical region
Oooh ahh up the La
What’s the story with the little Wexford bit?
RTÉ had a show on a few weeks ago called The Island presented by Liz Bonnin. There’s an episode based on this. The entire show is fascinating
From this day forth I shall no longer refer to Rosslare as the arsehole of Ireland, I shall call it the
“Avalonian Margin, aka the Arsehole of Ireland”
Laurentian margin says “No!”.
Yes, this is why the infamous Appalachian trail actually continues across Northern Ireland. Areas of Scotland and Western Norway also came from the continent of Laurentia, prior to the closing of the Iapetus ocean (which was roughly 1000km wide). I read before that the mountain range that formed during this collision event was once talker than the Himalayas.
Also, the limestones of the Burren were formed when that section of Ireland was positioned much closer to the equator, in a shallow seabed environment. Geology is wild.
TFW Galway is Northern Ireland and Belfast is Southern Ireland
What a coincidence, I was just reading a book that mentioned this very subject a few hours ago, very interesting stuff
Victory will be ours!! – Laurentian Gang
Lapetus weaklings must kneel before us.