Legend says that St. Patrick came to Ireland to bring Christianity to the people. At the end of his journey he rewarded the people by banishing all of the snakes from Ireland. He did this from the castleon top of the Rock of Cashel.

There are truly no snakes in Ireland, and there are no skunks either.

Whether this is true or not does not matter to us. What does matteris how this large rock formation got there in the first place and what has happened to it since.

There is me with Ms. Dillman!!!!!!!

Now it’s time to learn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ireland has rather complicated geology. It is an island that is the remains of ancient mountain ridges, from orogenies long ago.

Metamorphic rocks are the most common.

Most of central Ireland is flat and underlain by limestone.The surrounding coasts of Ireland are steep cliffs made of the Metamorphic form of limestone.

What is that?

The interior of the country has been forever changed by extreme chemical weathering (a lot of moisture).

The limestone has been basically eroded away and greenery has taken over. The green is all of the plants that thrive on the very rich soil.

There are a lot of peat bogs in central Ireland as well. They are formed from the decaying plants and extreme moisture combination.

That is another lesson.

Around 60 million years ago Ireland was awoken.The tectonic plates below began to move and shake.

The Rock of Cashel was formed when limestone was thrust out of the ground by extreme faulting. No, the castle was not there yet!!

The Castle was built around 370 AD, out of the surrounding limestone. It was used by many Munster Kings and royalty until the 12th century.

Now it is a great tourist attraction.

Using your Earth Science Reference Tables, sketch three examples of life forms that would have been around during the formation of the Rock of Cashel. This must be done on separate paper.

On the same paper, explain how limestone forms.

Also explain what would happen to all of the limestone if it were putunder extreme heat and pressure during the another episode of crustal movement.