Source: Nature: "Ireland"
Major corporate support for the Nature collection was provided by Canon U.S.A. and SC Johnson. Additional support was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the nation’s public television stations.
Forming the Burren
(Video)
National K -12 Subject:
Lesson Plans Using this Resource:
No part of Ireland completely escaped the impact of the glaciers of the Ice Age. The glaciers transformed the contours of the island and left behind a landscape of craggy mountains, steep gorges and vast networks of inland waterways. In this video segment from Nature, viewers learn about this part of Ireland's geological past.
Download and ShareTranscript (Document)
Ireland, like much of the Northern Hemisphere, was completely covered by glaciers during the Ice Age. As the glaciers advanced and retreated over the land, they shaped and changed the surface of the landmass through the processes of erosion and sedimentation.
Ireland’s hills and mountains are formed from her oldest, hardest rocks – they’re part of the legacy of her geological past, the foundation on which this island is built.
But the landscapes we see today have more recent origins. Everywhere, Ireland has been sculpted in some way by one of the greatest forces of nature – ice.
For almost 2 million years Ireland, like the rest of Europe, was locked in the grip of the Ice Age. Glaciers - vast moving sheets of ice - destroyed nearly all life and transformed the contours of the land. No part of Ireland completely escaped their impact.
In the Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland, the glaciers never quite reached the summits – but the cold they carried with them did. Frost action split and shattered the rock faces, chiseling steep ravines and deeply carved peaks.
Loading Standards
Background Essay
Print Background Essay