Mourne Geology and Archaeology Group

Mourne Geology and Archaeology

The Mourne Geology and Archaeology Group is a small group of academics who have an active interest in the geology, archaeology and upland heritage of the Mourne Mountains, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. We aim to provide quality information about all aspects of the geology of the Mournes to the public through this web site. We have an interest in the conservation of geological and geomorphological sites in Mourne and are very interested in how these are protected. Finally, we have a keen interest in the move towards a National Park in Mourne and possibly a Geopark in the Mournes/Gullion/Cooley area and will be keeping an watchful eye on developments. We hope you enjoy this site and benefit greatly from it.

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Maps of the Mournes are available from different published sources as listed below. This is not an exhaustive list at present.

Topography

OSNI Mournes 1:25,000 first published in 2004 with a second revised edition in 2006.Excellent topo coloured map. Reverse of this map has information on interesting things to do in the area and has the latest published geology map of the Eastern and Western Mournes on the reverse (Hood and Gibson QUB PhD theses maps).The older version of this Mournes map was called the Outdoor Pursuits Map. This is no longer in print and had no colour fill for the topography. The contours on this older map are far more accurate than the newer Mournes Map! Copies of these maps are available to purchase from Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland www.osni.gov.uk (from their web site or from Colby House in Belfast).

Geology

The most recent geology maps of the Mourne granites are published on the OSNI Mournes map (see Topography above) and also in the GSNI Regional Geology Guide to Northern Ireland ‘The Geology of Northern Ireland – Our Natural Foundation.’ GSNI 2004, Edited by WI Mitchell. This is available from the GSNI also at Colby House in Belfast www.bgs.ac.uk/gsni/ or from the BGS bookshop web site at www.bgs.ac.uk/bookshop/ . This book is excellent value for money and contains information on the geology of the Mournes. There is a full petrographic table in this book to accompany the maps of the Mourne granites. This should help in identifying the different granite types in the area.

Other older maps have been published on the Mournes:

Mourne Mountains. GSNI Special Sheet 1:50k. 1978 www.bgs.ac.uk/gsni This map shows the state of mapping of the granites up to that time. It still represents the best map for the distribution of the dkyes and conesheets, although these are shown rather diagrammatically and some of the conesheets are shown as being joined up – there being no evidence for this in the field.

Geological Map of Northern Ireland. GSNI 1:250,000 Solid Edition 1997 www.bgs.ac.uk/gsni/ This is a useful regional map of Northern Ireland and for the Mournes shows the granites as per the 1978 map above.

New 1:25,000 Geology map

The MGAG is in the process of remapping the Mourne area and assembling all the data in the GIS package ArcGIS. This work has progressed well over the last year and a draft version is available to consult from David Hood but is not published. The map was be presented at the European Geoparks conference in Belfast, 18th-21st September 2006. It utilises the Geology maps of Hood and Gibson together with the OSNI Mournes 1:25k Outdoor pursuits map, OSNI Digital Elevation Model data and GSNI old 6inch field sheets (Hull & Traill) and other published information on the dykes along the coast (Tomkieff & Marshall). All these data have been assembled in ArcGIS and referenced correctly to the Irish Grid system. More information is now being added on the granites and country rocks.

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