(Days 1-3 here) This was a full and busy day with several pictures, so it gets it own post.
Day four: Happy to wake up on Inis Mhor with a big day planned. Hitched a ride into town to rent bicycles and buy picnic lunch ingredients, and headed out of town towards the opposite end of the island for Dún Dúchathair, or the Black Fort, another ancient ruin. Where Dun Aengus has an improved path up to it and signage, and a road nearby, the Black Fort is quite remote; we had to leave our bikes quite far away and hike and clamber over rock walls and rough surfaces to get to it, but it was breathtaking. And I spotted a pair of what turned out to basking sharks – very exciting!
views along the dramatic coastline cliffs
Husband and I, aww
Castle defense at the Black Fort: these rocks provided defense from cavalry or, heck, from any kind of fast approach; they've been stood on end and make picking one's way across very difficult.
could somebody please tell me what makes these rocks take such clean straight lines?
"beehive huts" or rooms at the Black Fort inside the 20-foot-thick walls
Husband and I, riding
Our ride then took us back towards our hotel to visit the Worm Hole, a strange naturally occurring rectangular pool viewable from above where we hiked on the cliffs. Barrett got a flat tire, and it was a comedy of errors, but we got back to turn the bikes in, buy sweaters from the Aran Sweater Market, and settle in for – that’s right – dinner and pints at the American Bar (which is not associated with any Americans). Then a local volunteered to drive us home and gave us a hefty box of crabmeat caught that day, which improved his cab fare considerably. Treasa set us up with a makeshift crab hammer, we bought a box of beer, and the night was filled with revelry.
Handsome Husband: lovely end to a long day.
To be continued.
Filed under: a walk about town, musings | Tagged: personal, travel |
pagesofjulia 
If I were to make an educated guess based on my undergraduate geology classes, I would say that those rocks run in straight rows because they were originally lying in flat layers. But then the plate on which they sit was pushed up so that the flat layer started to angle up until it was at 90 degrees from where it started. And then the green matter filled in the spaces between the now vertical layers, perhaps even helping to expand the space between the rock layers. Or, there could have been a softer stone between the harder layers that wore away over time, leaving room for he green stuff to fill in. But now I my interest is piqued. I might have to check out the Google to see if I can find out if I am close.
YAY for Thomas taking a guess! I think the theory I heard was your second, about the softer material in between; I wondered about shifting of plates to create those parallel cracks, but yours makes more sense. Apparently I am a lazy Googler; I can’t wait to hear what you find.
Actually the plate thing is still valid. The layers were deposited, the matter in each layer solidified over time, and then the whole thing was pushed to 90 degrees. Once everything was at 90, the softer layers eroded leaving the vertical layers of the harder rock.
Upon further reading, rather than the plate pushing the rocks up to 90 degrees, it might instead, have been caused by weaker limestone under this rock (when it was still horizontal) being eroded by the sea and this bit eventually falling over to its position at 90 degrees. I could be way off on all counts, but I continue to look…
I would give you a cookie if you were nearby. Thank you Thomas.
After finding information on Hutton’s Unconformity, I am inclined to think the my first comment about the plates shifting is probably closer. If you look at this link about Hutton’s Unconformity just imagine it without the “newer” horizontal bits not there and it starts to make sense. Incidentally Hutton’s discovery of the uncormities in the Aran Islands, contributed to Darwin’s work on evolution and the geologic record.
Google isn’t so good for finding this kind of stuff easily. I wish I still had my college geology textbooks. They would have been much better.
http://www.scran.ac.uk/packs/exhibitions/learning_materials/webs/43/graphics/hutton1.htm
So first of all, as a librarian I love this:
“Google isn’t so good for finding this kind of stuff easily. I wish I still had my college geology textbooks. They would have been much better.”
(And I’m not surprised you feel that way.)
But you did quite well with the resource at hand! Thanks for the education! How great with the Darwin connection, even.
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