A Guide to Cork City's Geological Heritage

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The Old Red Sandstone is a term describing an extensive group of sandstones, mudstones and siltstones that were deposited during the Late Devonian. Not only found in Cork City, but the Old Red Sandstone also appears in large parts of the southern part of Ireland, the UK, Scandinavia, Greenland and part of eastern North America. Going back to the jigsaw puzzle analogy described in the introduction, these areas were once part of one big continent back in the Late Devonian.

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1. Cork during the Devonian: This picture shows one of the first species of trees to exist on Earth: Archaeopteris. 2. A bird’s-eye view of a semi-arid river plain during the drier season. 3. A flash flood during the wetter season.

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