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[Req] Is the Sugarloaf an extinct volcano?

FrCrilly

Hi All,

I’m having a disagreement with a work colleague about the Sugarloaf Mountain, Co Wicklow. He’s claiming it’s a distinct volcano, but I remember once seeing on the RTE programme “Written in Stone”, that it is in fact the remains of an ancient shoreline of a super continent that merged with another continent which eventually broke up again to the arrangement the world is in now.

Can anyone confirm who’s right. If you can refer me to some evidence on the subject, that will also be appreciated.

Thanks In Advance

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Owen

If I remember my primary school Geography, it's Ireland's only extinct Volcano.

mathias

There are 3 hills/mountains in Wicklow with the name sugar loaf , none of these are the extinct Volcano , its the one in Cork thats an extinct Volcano.

eve

Quote from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarloaf_Mountain%2C_Ireland

Sugarloaf Mountain is a mountain south-west of Glengarriff in County Cork, Ireland. One of the Caha Mountains, its height is 574 metres and is the 319th highest summit in Ireland. It is one of Ireland's few extinct volcanos.

Capt'n Midnight

I think it's the appalations that are the same chain as ireland/scotland

the atlantic ocean is only 250 Million years old, the congo river is older , geology is similar on both sides - but scotland went walkabouts for a while

granite has crystals , bigger ones mean more pressure, scotland had mountains higher than everst in the past, the giant's cause way has heaxagnol rods due to the way the lava cooled after that erruptoin, sugar loaf woud be the same,

9th

FrCrilly wrote:

Hi All,

I’m having a disagreement with a work colleague about the Sugarloaf Mountain, Co Wicklow. He’s claiming it’s a distinct volcano, but I remember once seeing on the RTE programme “Written in Stone”, that it is in fact the remains of an ancient shoreline of a super continent that merged with another continent which eventually broke up again to the arrangement the world is in now.

Can anyone confirm who’s right. If you can refer me to some evidence on the subject, that will also be appreciated.

Thanks In Advance

Your question is actually a little garbled to be honest. The super continent you ae talking about is called Pangea. It is hypothisized that all the continents were once one large land mass. This is supported by the fact that the placement of significant land mass fit this jig-saw scenario. The distribution of differnt stone type within Ireland suggest that it is composed of two small land masses that cme from differnt sides of the equator.

kiffer

FrCrilly wrote:

Hi All,

I’m having a disagreement with a work colleague about the Sugarloaf Mountain, Co Wicklow. He’s claiming it’s a distinct volcano, but I remember once seeing on the RTE programme “Written in Stone”, that it is in fact the remains of an ancient shoreline of a super continent that merged with another continent which eventually broke up again to the arrangement the world is in now.

Can anyone confirm who’s right. If you can refer me to some evidence on the subject, that will also be appreciated.

Thanks In Advance

The Great and Little Sugarloaves in Wicklow are not volcanoes, of any kind.
They are made of Cambrian sandstones (greywacke and quartzite I think) so they are at least 488 million years old. The ocean you mention them forming in was the Iapetus Ocean, which separated the north and south halves of what would become Ireland...

The other Sugarloaf in the west of Wicklow is slap bang in a newer patch of sandstones ... I've never seen it and in fact didn't even know it existed before today so this might not be too accurate ... is slap-bang in the middle of an area of sandstone/greywake/slate and so on which was deposited in the lower-middle Ordovician, so it's a little younger... at the absolute most 488 million years old, in light of this I'm guessing that it's not volcanic...

I don't know any thing about the Sugerloaf in Cork... but it's in the middle of Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous sandstones of various types...

http://www.gsi.ie/
and
http://193.178.1.182/website/gsi_multi/viewer.htm
the viewer is handy, but a little awkward...

Timistry

kiffer is correct.It is definitely not a volcano. It is a granite batholith with was extruded 100's of millions of years ago. The fact it is so prominent is due to the hard nature of granite. There is a extinct volcano in killarney with a crater lake called lake guitane.Its the only one i knew about.

Hot Dog

The sugar loaf is actually Cambrian quartzite, same as bray head ans howth. It is not granite, it is not a volcano. It is also folded, giving it a strange shape. The Cambrian quartzites are older than the wicklow granites which are Ordovician in age.

A carboniferous volcano is Croghan hill in the midlands, or up north past the border.

How do we go about setting up a Geology subforum?

bonkey

Hot Dog wrote: »

How do we go about setting up a Geology subforum?

Under the Sys menu, there's a forum called Forums. Its for proposing new fora.

My guess is that given the low volume of content currently geology related (although there's quite a bit discussed from time to time in the massive Creationism thread in Christianity!) it won't be a runner....but if you feel there's justification, thats where you make your case.

Eschatologist

ned78 wrote: »

If I remember my primary school Geography, it's Ireland's only extinct Volcano.

Not true, there are many dotted around the country. For example, Lambay Island is an extinct volcano of Ordovician age, the time when Ireland was divided in two by the Iapetus Ocean, prelude to the Atlantic. Lithified landslides are also preserved around its flanks.

riftfiend

I am in agreement witho Hot Dog. The sugar loaf, little sugar loaf on the south side of dublin bay and Howth head on the north side of dublin bay are all in fact composed of Cambrian Quartzites and are indeed the remnants of an ancient shoreline and are alsopart of the basement group of the Dublin Basin.

The granites which people are refering to are related to the Caladonian mountaiin building event which took place during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and are not volcanic but are plutonic (intrusive).

There are a number of extinct volcanoes in Ireland one of the best preserved being Lambay Isalnd. It was originally formed and was active during the closure of the Iapetus and imediatly prior to the Caladonian. It is a subduction related volcanoe of Ordavician age. (younger than the sugar loaf quartzites, although it is possibly older that the folding.) It would have originally formed part of a volcanic chain, of which it is the best preserved.

Also there is an extict volcanoe of Carboniferous age a few kms south of Limerick city.

Danno

This is one in South Armagh: http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=54.116779,-6.409149&spn=0.099812,0.232086&t=k&z=12

Apparantly an exploded volcano like Tenerife Island.

eivea

well for years i argued that the sugar loaf was a longterm dormant volcano and not extinct but now i'm older and wiser and have the internet i can say 100% we have no worries about it ever being active again!
it was formed about 200 millions years ago
check out this website http://www.platetectonics.com
it talks about the supercontinent Pangaea....
"While the Atlantic Ocean opened, the Pacific began to shrink. The Americas slid west while the huge Eurasian plate and Australia drifted east along with India, which broke away from southern Africa to begin it’s long journey north. Some 20 million years later India collided with southern Eurasia, thrusting up their crustal borders, marking the birth of the majestic Himalayan mountain range. And long ago Ireland and northern Scotland were part of North America, attached to Newfoundland, while part of Florida lay in Africa."

Hope this helps your case

Exon

It better be extinct cause I can see it from my window

I live in Bray!

kiffer

It's the least of your worries then...

It's not now nor ever has been a volcano of any type so we can't call it 'extinct' as it was never 'active'...
So Exon that means it's not extinct! You'd better panic...

r3nu4l

PaintDoctor wrote: »

If I remember my primary school Geography, it's Ireland's only extinct Volcano.

It's a great question and the thread has given some brilliant answers. Interestingly, I distinctly remember our primary school teacher telling us that the Sugarloaf in Wicklow was an extinct volcano...goes to show you the quality of my primary school education :eek:

Azelfafage

There are loads of Sugarloaf mountains.

There are two in Wicklow alone.

For three centuries sugar was imported into Europe as pyramidal "sugar loaves".

The mountain shape was named after them.

As in Rio.

.

testicle

Azelfafage wrote: »

There are two in Wicklow alone.

There are 3 in Wicklow alone. The two by Bray, and the third is in the Glen of Imaal.

20goto10

r3nu4l wrote: »

It's a great question and the thread has given some brilliant answers. Interestingly, I distinctly remember our primary school teacher telling us that the Sugarloaf in Wicklow was an extinct volcano...goes to show you the quality of my primary school education :eek:

I was told its a dormant volcano!!

tadhgor

As someone who grew up in Bray, my whole world has been turned up side down. I have to question everything now, including anything else my 2nd class teacher taught me.
Is the river Dargle still the longest river in Ireland?

El Siglo

Hot Dog wrote: »

The sugar loaf is actually Cambrian quartzite, same as bray head ans howth. It is not granite, it is not a volcano. It is also folded, giving it a strange shape. The Cambrian quartzites are older than the wicklow granites which are Ordovician in age.

A carboniferous volcano is Croghan hill in the midlands, or up north past the border.

How do we go about setting up a Geology subforum?

I've been trying to set up and Environmental and Earth Sciences sub-forum for the last while. I know it's not strictly 'Geology', but I can't see why this kind of discussion couldn't be accommodated for. I've found this thread very interesting and it again highlights the need for an Earth Sciences type sub-forum.

rccaulfield

Great info in this one-Thanks all- I'll never look at lambay the same way again!