Nolan's Ireland Blog

Week 5 -Volcanic Hazards for Ireland         Ireland is more known for its vast green landscapes and strong cultural traditions, rather than erupting volcanoes. Ireland has no active volcanoes, and its geological history has rare significant volcanic events. The last volcanic activity on the island occurred around 60 million years ago and left behind only ancient remains of volcanic activity, such as the Giant's Causeway in the county of Antrim. Any form of volcanic eruption is not considered a threat in Ireland.      Ireland is by no means immune from volcanic hazards. Several notable volcanoes from Iceland are the nearest threats, which include the notorious Eyjafjallajökull from its 2010 eruption that disrupted air travel across Europe. Though the immediate effects of an Icelandic eruption would be minor, ash clouds can lead to air-quality problems temporarily, as it did in 2010.      A variety of mitigations to volcanic hazards ...

  Week 3 - Earthquakes in Ireland  When looking at Ireland in the context of earthquakes, Ireland has relatively low seismic activity. Ireland is located on the Eurasian plate and is about 1,000 miles away from the closest plate boundary. Because Ireland is so far away from a tectonic plate boundary you would assume that they wouldn't experience many earthquakes which is exactly the case. Ireland does however experience the rare earthquake which is usually low magnitude. Below is an image of the probability of an earthquake hazard occurring. The red arrow points to Ireland. The closest plate boundary to Ireland is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which does not experience many intense tectonic forces to cause an earthquake in Ireland.       Although Ireland faces less of a seismic threat than other countries they have taken steps to ensure they are prepared for a massive earthquake. Firstly the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) operates seismic s...

  Nolan Wade     This week is about plate tectonics and how this has determined Ireland's unique geological landscape. Not located at any active plate boundary, unlike other nations around it, Ireland lies reasonably securely on the Eurasian Plate, very far away from seismic and volcanic activity associated with regions such as the Pacific Ring of Fire.      Despite this stability, there are some noteworthy events in Ireland's geological past, such as a mountain-building period around 400 million years ago known as the Caledonian Orogeny, which formed the ancient ranges we see today, and the evidence of ancient volcanic action, perhaps the most famous expression being the Giant's Causeway, which formed from volcanic eruptions approximately 60 million years ago.     Modern Ireland is subject to very few earthquakes and no active volcanism, yet the nature of plate tectonics has left its mark on the Irish landscape.  Understanding these und...