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Earth Science Conservation Review
| Spincha Burn, Cluntygeeragh Townland | Londonderry |
| Site number: | 299 | File Number: | C70 |
| ESCC: | EO | ||
| Locality Type: | Stream section | Status: | local interest |
| Grid Reference: | C72980316 Centroid | ||
| Google maps: | 54.87076,-6.86447 | ||
| County: | Londonderry | Council area: | Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council |
| Period: | Carboniferous | ||
| Stages: | Tournasian | ||
| Lithostrat: | Iniscarn Sandstone Formation, Tyrone Group | ||
| Site Description | |
|---|---|
| Highlights: | |
A clean exposure of conglomerates and coarse arkosic sandstones of the Iniscarn Formation located 50m from their unconformable base on Dalradian metamorphic rocks. | |
| Description: | |
This isolated exposure of the Iniscarn Formation, resting on Dalradian basement is located in the headwaters of the Spincha Burn about 400m east of the Birren Road, on the NW flank of Mullaghmore mountain. The main outcrop forms a 4-5m high rock waterfall, below (NE) which the stream flows in a deeply incised gully flanked by thick deposits of boulder clay. SW of the falls the land rises gently to the Birren Road and towards Mullaghmore and is blanketed by thick peat. The outcrop exposes thick to massive, poorly bedded conglomerates with a very friable sandy matrix. Clasts are self- to matrix- supported, rounded to well rounded and consist mainly of micaceous quartzite and vein quartz rarely more than 7cm diameter but with occasional very large angular blocks from 0.2-0.4m long. The top of the waterfall is formed of a bed of pale purple-red coarse sandstone, ~0.45m thick which is inclined southeastwards at about 10 deg. The overall colour of the conglomerate is pale grey to fawn as a result of the dominant clast colour though the matrix is tinged with purple and pale red. NE of the waterfall are low outcrops of pale fawn pebbly sandstone and very coarse sandstone. The basal bed of the formation and the sub-Carboniferous unconformity is not exposed here. | |
| Conclusions: | |
Many stream sections of the Iniscarn Formation in its stratotype (see site 'Iniscarn Townland, near Desertmartin') are cloaked in vegetation and relatively inaccessible. In contrast the Spincha Burn exposure is clean and accessible and located in close proximity to metamorphic basement. | |
| Notes: | |
For information on other sites in Subarea-12 see Key Site 1185 - Subarea-12; Draperstown-Glenshane Pass-Limavady. | |
| Keywords | |
|---|---|
| Rocks: | Arkose, Conglomerate |
| Relations: | Fluvial sediments |
| Paleoenv: | alluvial fan |
| Measurements | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length: | Width: | Height: | 4-5 m | ||
| Depth: | Area: | ||||
| Access | |
|---|---|
| Approach: | 400m east of the Birren Road on the NW flank of Mullaghmore mountain. |
| Map(s): | GSNI (1995) 1:50,000 Solid Geology of Sheet 26 (Draperstown). | ||
| Record type: | ESCR report | ||
| Entered by: | Doughty, P.J. | ||
| Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Spincha Burn, Cluntygeeragh Townland, County Londonderry, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review. https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=299. Accessed on 2026-11-08. |
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