Landform and structure in Ulster

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Abstract
Synopsis: The Eocene basalts of Ulster, transgressing all older rocks in a tectonic context ranging from the Highlands across the Midland Valley to the Southern Uplands, were repeatedly deformed and eroded both before and after the deposition of the Oligocene Lough Neagh Clays, without sign of a rift to accommodate them. The Neogene landform, established after the mid-Tertiary movements ceased, was a wave-planed benched plateau, little warped, superimposed on all the Ulster rocks and structures. It may be followed from Antrim westwards into terrain where pre-Mesozoic formations alone occur, and southwards across the large unroofed Eocene intrusive complexes of Down. It everywhere truncates the Tertiary dykes. As the primary element of the landscape it continues into Connaught, Munster, and Leinster. The river system is marked by superimposition and by ‘subsequent’ adjustment to structure. It complements the plateau, which it has dissected, in its evidence that the Irish landscape is mainly Neogene in origin.

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