Recent Geological Investigations in the Irish Sea

Abstract

AN area of Carboniferous rocks between the Isle of Man and Anglesey has been found during a recent geological and geophysical survey by the Institute of Geological Sciences in the north-east Irish Sea. Echo sounder records from this area indicate a notably uneven sea bed, which locally has a relief of up to about 40 feet and probably consists of outcrops of solid rock surrounded by boulder clay or gravel. Rock samples were recovered with a gravity corer at fifteen localities and it seems likely that they were cored from outcrops rather than from boulders in boulder clay. The samples have been identified as follows (see Fig. 1 for localities): three cores of Manx Slates (close to the Isle of Man), three cores of rocks from the Mona Complex (close to Anglesey), four cores of Carboniferous (Westphalian) mudstones and siltstones, one core of Ordovician mudstone, and four cores of mudstone and siltstone of undetermined age. These have yielded no Carboniferous spores but are currently being examined for any other microfauna. They may be of Lower Palaeozoic age.