The landscape around Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands located off the western coast of Ireland in the Galway Bay, includes a variety of geological structures including karst-limestone, faults, and joints formed during the Carboniferous Period. Inishmore and adjacent islands have some of the best examples of karst limestone landscape in the world with crisscrossing cracks known as “grikes”, leaving isolated rocks called “clints”.
Sand Location
See where this sand sample was collected on Google Maps.
Virtual Sand Tour
Explore an interactive map of Inishmore on Google Earth.
Sand Overview
Fine sand grains from the harbor area.
Coarse sand from the Lamphouse Ramp.
Sand Gallery
Distinct tan, red striped, and white shell fragments are present along with a collection of dark metamorphic sand grains from near the lamphouse ramp.
A bright white fragment of marine shell stands out distinctly from the gray and black volcanic fragments collected at the lamphouse ramp. There is some rounding of sand grain edges from long exposure to wave action.
Predominantly small black, gray and white sand grains are a mixture of volcanic grains and marine shell fragments.
This higher magnification shows the sharp edges of gray-black sand grain along with clear quartz grains. Bright white grains and a brown grain are fragments of marine shells.