Volcanoe's on the Offaly Westmeath border

The landscape along the Offaly Westmeath border was once dominated by a range of volcanoes, according to scientists.

Newly released details from an ongoing geological survey of the midlands has revealed that 330 million years ago the Westmeath/Offaly border south of Mullingar was home to a range of volcanoes.

New details about the range were discovered recently by a low flying plane equipped with the latest geophysical mapping technology and appears in the new data as a cluster of small magnetic bodies.

The research was carried out by the Geological Survey of Ireland as part of its cross border Tellus geoenvironmental mapping project which began in 2007.

Flying 90m above the ground, the Geological Survey’s specially-equipped aircraft carries three geophysical instruments on board, measuring magnetism, conductivity and natural radiation of the rocks and soils below.

Speaking about the Tellus programme and its latest findings, Ray Scanlon, principal geologist at the Geological Survey of Ireland, anticipates that the freely available data will be put to a wide range of practical uses including mineral exploration and agriculture.

“Tellus continues to reveal extraordinary new detail in Ireland’s geological landscape buried beneath our feet, building upon existing data gaps and developing natural resource opportunities. The coupling of airborne geophysics and ground-based geochemistry provides a richness of data which places Ireland on a level with other global leaders for the quality, breadth and availability of geoscience information. An understanding of Ireland’s geology is vital for environmental, health and economic reasons, and the data will be welcomed by a broad range of stakeholders for agricultural, radon prevention, groundwater protection and mineral exploration purposes.”

The fourth phase of Tellus is currently underway across eastern Ireland where the airborne survey over Offaly, Kildare, Meath, rural Dublin and northern parts of Wicklow and Laois is almost 60% complete.