Origin and Formation of Coastal Boulder Deposits at Galway Bay and the Aran Islands, Western Ireland

About this book

Origin and Formation of Coastal Boulder Deposits at Galway Bay and the Aran Islands, Western Ireland presents geomorphological and sedimentological aspects of Holocene boulder ridges along the coastline of western Ireland (the Aran Islands and Galway Bay). Given these boulders' size, extent and altitude, they are among the most spectacular deposits moved by marine forces worldwide and have challenged researchers to solve their enigmatic history. In particular, the question of how their features were formed (by storm waves or by tsunamis) is a matter of heated debate. The documentation is based on the authors' own field research, including observations on the boulder transport capacity of six extremely strong winter storms in the 2013/14 season. Discussing the arguments published to date and using more than 130 images for clarity, the book addresses the character, setting and extraordinary size of these boulders moved on land, comparing them with the situation along other exposed coastlines of the world.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Study Sites, Methods and Aim

3. Results from field work
3.1 Observation on recent storm wave movement of coastal boulders on the Aran Islands and in Galway Bay
3.1.1 Size of dislocated boulders
3.1.2. Observations on recent storm wave boulder movement on Inishmore Island
3.1.3. Observations on Inishmaan Island
3.1.4 Observations along the SE coast of Galway Bay (Doolin to Black Head)
3.2 Summary of observations and comparison of storm wave moved boulders in western Ireland with other exposed sections of the World's coastline

4. Results: Organization and architecture of boulder clusters and boulder ridges
4.1. Imbrication and imbrication trains
4.2. Delicate setting and balancing boulders
4.3. Source of coastal boulders
4.4. Main boulder ridges in the Aran and Galway region
4.5. Double and multiple boulder ridges and boulder piles
4.6. Ripple features in coastal boulder ridges

5. Discussion
5.1. Recent activation of boulder ridges compared to existing deposits
5.2. Genesis of coastal boulder ridges in the Aran and Galway area

6. Conclusions

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