7 DEVONIAN - ‘OLD RED SANDSTONE’

RIVERS & DESERT

Figure 7.1 Plate reconstruction for the Early Devonian (390 million years ago)

7.1 CLIMATE & SETTING

During the Devonian Period, which lasted from 410 - 354 million years ago, Ireland was located on the southeastern
margin of a large ‘Old Red Sandstone’ landmass that had formed from the final closure of the Iapetus Ocean
during Silurian times (Fig. 7.1) (Chapters 5 & 6). This landmass on the Laurussian Plate covered most of what
is now northern Europe and North America.
From the mid-Devonian onwards, Ireland, as part of the landmass, gradually moved from about 35OS northwards
towards the equator. The climate was semi-arid, with seasonal rainfall, Ireland being on the windward side of
the continent, similar to the position of Zimbabwe today. Erosion of the Caledonian Mountains (Chapter 6) in
northwest Ireland supplied sediment via large rivers to the extensive deserts of the alluvial plains.

Figure 7.2 Lower Devonian palaeogeography

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The predominantly red or purple colouration of the rocks, which gives rise to the name ‘Old Red Sandstone’ is
due to the arid climatic conditions and low water table causing oxidation of the sediments (Study Box 7.2).
River processes dominated sedimentation in Ireland until the latest Devonian when the sea inundated most of
Munster from the south. Evaporites and aeolian sediments were uncommon, compared to the later ‘New Red
Sandstone’ deserts of the Permo-Trias (Chapter 11). Plants and trees flourished wherever the water table was
high enough to prevent oxidation of the sediments. Bioturbation (Study Box 8.2) in mudstones from the Upper
Devonian indicates that there was also an abundant fauna.

7.2 LOWER DEVONIAN BASINS

During the Lower Devonian, sedimentary basins (see section 1.4.2) were mostly restricted to the northern part
of the country, exposed now near Clew Bay, the Curlew Mountains, Fintona, and Cushendall (Fig. 7.2). This
was a mountainous area raised up in the last phase (Acadian) of the Caledonian Orogeny (Chapter 6, Fig. 6.1).
The basins were internal basins (intermontane) within the mountain zone, that probably subsided between the
Highland Boundary and Southern Uplands faults, which were active at this time (Figs 6.3, 6.4). These faults
moved laterally by strike-slip displacement (see Fig. 1.35) as a result of the orogeny and extended into Ireland
from the Midland Valley of Scotland, where there are similar Lower Devonian basins. They are characterised by
conglomerates and sandstones and interbedded volcanic layers. Many of the conglomerate clasts are also
derived from volcanic rocks. The conglomerates and sandstones were deposited in alluvial fans, playa lakes
and associated fluvial deposits.
In the south of Ireland Lower Devonian rocks are preserved in another small basin on the Dingle Peninsula
(Fig. 7.2). Here sedimentation was continuous from the Silurian into the Lower and Middle Devonian. The basin
contains conglomerates and sandstones interpreted as lake sediments fringed by debris fans and later fluvial
deposits.
At Inch, purple conglomerates contain clasts of metamorphic rocks that were probably derived from an area of
now unexposed metamorphic rocks to the south (Fig. 7.3). This alluvial fan spread northwards down the
southern slope of the Dingle Basin. Red sandstones and siltstones deposited between the conglomerate beds
reveal sedimentary features, such as cross-bedding and ripple marks that are typical of an alluvial setting. Mud
(desiccation) cracks formed on the surface of wet mud, indicate rapid drying-out of a playa lake in the hot
desert environment.

Figure 7.3 Conglomerates at Inch Strand, Co. Kerry

Figure 7.4 Late Devonian palaeogeography

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7.3 MIDDLE & UPPER DEVONIAN
Most of the Devonian rocks preserved in Ireland today are of Upper Devonian age and rest unconformably on
eroded Silurian rocks. Rocks of Middle Devonian age are generally absent, as this was a time of erosion
marked by an unconformity (section 1.5.2; Fig. 1.34). However, rocks of Middle Devonian age have already
been noted in the Dingle Basin. Rocks of late Middle Devonian age are also recorded from the Munster Basin.

7.3.1 THE MUNSTER BASIN

The Munster Basin (Fig. 7.4) was the site of the thickest non-marine Devonian sequence in Europe, with more
than 6 km of sedimentary rocks deposited in the deepest part over the Iveragh Peninsula. It began in Middle
Devonian times and continued throughout the Upper Devonian. The northern margin extended eastwards from
Dingle Bay, through the Galtee and Comeragh mountains to the Waterford coast.
The basin is filled with conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones and mudstones. Two major river systems, that
were eroding the mountainous source area to the north, dominated deposition in the Munster Basin. One
entered the basin over the Iveragh Peninsula in the west and the other eastern river deposited its load over the
Galtee Mountain region. Deposition from these rivers gave rise to the following four main packages of sedimentary
rocks.

7.3.1.1 COARSE GRAINED FLUVIAL ROCKS – ALLUVIAL FANS & BRAIDED RIVERS
The coarse-grained conglomerates are found mostly on the margins of the basin, for example in the Comeragh
and Galtee Mountains, where they represent alluvial fans (Study Box 7.1). These conglomerates can be seen
in the back-wall of the corrie lake at Coumshingaun, Co. Waterford.
In the northern part of the basin, sedimentary structures in the pebbly sandstones and coarse sandstones
show that the rivers were braided, that is, the channels split many times and joined up again as they flowed
southwards across the alluvial plain (Study Box 7.1). The silt and mud sized material was carried away in
suspension much further south.

7.3.1.2 AEOLIAN SANDSTONES

Sometimes, but not commonly, coarse alluvial fan deposits are interbedded with aeolian (wind-borne) sediments.
This is seen on the northern margin of the Galtee Mountains, where fan conglomerates building outwards from
the north interfingered with sands of an aeolian dune field (Study Box 7.2). Large-scale cross-bedding in the
dunes (foresets of up to 15 m thickness) indicate that the main wind transportation was from the south. Similar
juxtapositions of coarse alluvial deposits and aeolian sediments can be seen, for example, at Kilmurray Bay
(Fig. 7.5) and Inch on the Dingle Peninsula.

Figure 7.5 Aeolian Sandstones, Kilmurray Formation, Dingle.

7.3.1.3 FINE-GRAINED FLUVIAL ROCKS – UNCONFINED SHEETFLOODS & LAKES

Further south, into the central part of the basin, the deposits are generally finer grained and result from unconfined
sandy sheetfloods. In the hot, semi-arid climate, the mountains were periodically exposed to torrential rains,
generating flash-floods in dry river valleys that caused rapid erosion. The rivers flowed mostly seasonally
towards the south, ending in an extensive lacustrine area where the water seeped into the sediments. Drainage
and evaporation far exceeded rainfall, and the lakes that formed on the plains, similar to those seen now in

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South Australia, were short-lived. There were, however, a few perennial rivers. This finer grained predominantly
purple coloured siltstone and mudstone (Fig. 7.6) makes up the great bulk of the Old Red Sandstone sequence,
reaching several thousand metres in thickness along the peninsulas of West Cork and Kerry.

Figure 7.6 Fine-grained floodplain deposits

7.3.1.4 FLUVIAL COASTAL PLAIN SANDSTONES

Towards the top of the Old Red Sandstone succession, thick green and yellow sandstones appear and represent
the transition from totally non-marine, well-oxygenated Old Red Sandstone fluviatile rocks, to the latest Devonian
marine influx, marked by a higher water table and less oxygenated conditions. These sandstones were deposited
by rivers on the coastal plain and can be seen at places such as Toe Head and Mizen Head in West Cork.
At around the same time micaceous white and yellow sandstones were being deposited in the eastern part of
the basin, where they now crop out around the Galtee, Comeragh and Slievenamon Mountains. An interbedded
green siltstone layer with beautifully preserved fossils of fish and plants (for example, Archaeopteris – Fig. 7.7)
was discovered in the 19th century from a quarry at Kiltorcan, County Kilkenny. The siltstone was probably
deposited by a highly sinuous river, on point bars and in adjacent swamps.

Figure 7.7 Archaeopteris

7.3.1.5 LATEST DEVONIAN MARINE SANDSTONES & SHALES

Tectonic rifting in latest Devonian times resulted in the formation of the smaller South Munster Basin, south of
a line from Cork to Kenmare. In the uppermost Devonian, the sea encroached across this basin depositing
dark-grey sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. Sedimentary structures show that there was wave and tidal
current action (see Chapter 8; Study Box 8.1). The presence of brachiopod fossils also demonstrates their
marine setting. This marked the beginning of a thick marine clastic sequence that continued uninterrupted in
the South Munster Basin into Upper Carboniferous times. At the Old Head of Kinsale, these uppermost Devonian
marine rocks are around 900 m thick and pass upward into dark-grey Carboniferous mudstones.

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7.4 LATE DEVONIAN ROCKS IN THE MIDLANDS
On the map, rocks of Old Red Sandstone type surround the Silurian upland areas such as Slieve Bloom, Slieve
Aughty and Slieve Phelim. These rocks comprise a widespread and relatively thin (generally less than 300 m)
sequence of conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone laid down to the north and east of the Munster
Basin. The sandstones were mostly deposited from laterally migrating, low sinuosity rivers flowing southwards.
Some of these rivers were of comparable size to the larger rivers in the British Isles today. Sandstone-mudstone
interbeds are interpreted as deposits of vegetated floodplains beneath which the water table was rising.
Conglomerates and pebbly sandstones, such as those found at Dunmore East (Fig.7.8) and Hook Head, were
deposited in less sinuous, bedload dominated rivers closer to the higher ground of the Leinster Massif. This
alluvial plain facies migrated slowly ahead of the northward advancing sea with uninterrupted fluvial deposition
continuing upward into earliest Carboniferous times. In fact, most of the Old Red Sandstone in the north
midlands is Lower Carboniferous in age.

Figure 7.8 Old Red Sandstone conglomerate and sandstone at Dunmore East, Co. Waterford.

7.5 DEVONIAN VOLCANOES & GRANITES

The presence of interbedded lava flows and ash fall deposits in the Old Red Sandstone, demonstrates that
volcanic activity was contemporaneous with sedimentation. During the Lower Devonian in the Curlew Mountain
area, thin andesitic lava flows (see Table 1.1) and pyroclastic layers alternated with sheetflood mudstone
deposition on the downstream part of an alluvial fan.
Volcanic activity continued throughout the Middle and Upper Devonian in both northern and southern Ireland.
The abundance of volcanic clasts and thin lava flows of this age (around 376 million years ago) in the Clogher
Valley (Fintona) conglomerates, suggests that this alluvial fan was built up almost entirely from eroded
contemporaneous volcanics.
Tuffs interbedded with the siltstones on the Iveragh Peninsula are dated at around late Middle Devonian (385
million years ago) and may be of similar age to the dolerites and gabbros intruded in the Valentia Island
Harbour area. Southeast of Killarney, a similar-aged volcanic complex at Lough Guitane consists of mostly
acid lavas and tuffs interbedded with alluvial fan channel sediments. Most of the volcanism and granite intrusion
at this time appears to be related to the final stages of subduction of Iapetus oceanic crust. The rise of magmas
was apparently controlled by strike-slip movement along major faults (see Chapter 6).

7.6 DEVONIAN LIFE

Major changes took place in the fauna and flora at the Silurian – Devonian boundary (Fig. 1.31). The changes
were mostly in the terrestrial environment. Vascular plants continued to rapidly colonise the land, leading to
dense forestation by the end of the Devonian, a time when seed-bearing plants (gymnosperms) also appeared.
Heavily-armoured fish and primitive bony fish were abundant in the shallow fresh-water lakes of the Lower Old
Red Sandstone, and sharks had evolved by mid-period. Later in the Devonian, ‘tetrapod’ amphibians (such as
Ichthyostega) became the first animals to walk on land. Insects appeared in the early Devonian and the first
winged type insect was reported from Upper Devonian rocks in Russia. Coral reefs and fish were abundant in
the marine environments now recorded in southwest England and continental Europe. The goniatite group of
ammonoids had evolved at the start of the Devonian and would become abundant in the Carboniferous seas
that covered Ireland.

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7.7 THE VALENTIA TETRAPOD TRACKWAY

Figure 7.9 The tetrapod trackway on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry.

A large number of fossil footprints (Fig. 7.9), forming several trackways, have been exposed on some of the
bedding planes in the purple siltstones on Valentia Island. They were made by the first known tetrapod, a
primitive amphibian that probably evolved from a type of lungfish, as it walked across the fluvial plain. From the
two hundred or more footprints, complete with body and tail drag groove, it has been possible to calculate a
body length of about one metre and to envisage a salamander-type gait. As the first discovery of this type in
Europe and the oldest in situ record of an amphibian animal, the site is now protected as an important part of
Ireland’s heritage.

7.8 DATING THE ROCKS

Old Red Sandstone rocks are very difficult to date because of the paucity of fossils, due to the hostile conditions
of deposition and preservation. They have been dated mainly on the basis of plant pollen (miospores), which
evolved rapidly, but which are generally absent from all but the upper Old Red Sandstone. Radiometric dating
of interbedded volcanic rocks have yielded absolute ages of late Middle to Upper Devonian (around 385 - 376
million years ago) for sedimentation in the Munster Basin.

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