| Site Type: | Inland exposure | | Site Status: | TBC | | Council area: | Fermanagh & Omagh District Council | | Grid Reference: | H340450,H303411 | | Bing maps: | 54.35302,-7.47707 | | Google maps: | 54.35302,-7.47707 | | Rocks |
|---|
| Rock Age: | Quaternary | | Rock Type: | Gravel, Sand | | Interest |
|---|
| Other interest: | Ice retreat, moraine |
| Summary of site: |
| In the area of the Tempo Valley between Drumderg and a point just north of Lisbellaw there is an area of large, generally flat-topped ridges with a north east/south west orientation. The longest is 1.3 km long and they are up to 300 m wide. They form strong features in an otherwise bland landscape. They are breached by a number of meltwater channels 50 to 75 m wide passing between the ridges and Lough Eyes occupies one of these gashes. | | The ridges are thought to be terminal moraines from periods when the front of the main ice sheet remained stable, shedding its debris load for a time, in its general eastward retreat into the Clogher Valley. The meltwater channels obviously relate to water flowing down the Tempo River valley, indeed there is a suggestion that the ridges are not truly moraines at all but secondary features resulting from multiple meltwater dissections of a single, huge morainic mound. Only good exposure of the deposits would allow this alternative explanation to be tested. |
|