XVIII. The Geology of Portrush

Abstract

A German naturalist, Dr. Roemer, writing in 1876, calls Ireland “the Land of Giant Stags, and Giant Causeways,” and therefore interesting. The remains of the Great Irish Elk can be seen in our museums, but to study the “Giant's Causeway” we must visit the Emerald Isle itself, and, taking up our abode in Portrush, make several trips by the electric railway, to inspect the many wonderful geological phenomena to be found in the district. In July last (1900) I carried out this programme, and now propose to give you a few of my observations in the following paper. Portrush is built on a rocky ridge which runs in a northerly direction for nearly a mile, and ends in Ramorne Head, with its rugged, mural precipices. West of this is the harbour, and beyond it a level shore flanked by sand-dunes. Then the abrupt and rocky coast-line again becomes prominent, stretching as far as Port Stewart, where there is a small opening, and the trap rocks assert themselves as far as the mouth of the River Bann. At Downhill there is an exposure of the white rocks of the Chalk, succeeded by cliffs of trap along the shore for some distance, and through a projecting part of which two tunnels have been cut for the Northern Counties Railway. Beyond this the coast-line, to the eastern shore of Lough Foyle, is very flat. The rocks which rise inland belong to the Cambrian or Silurian formation, as do also most of those of This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract