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Earth Science Conservation Review
| Knockinelder Bay and Kearney Point - Structural | Down |
| Site number: | 655 | ||
| Locality Type: | Foreshore | Status: | ASSI |
| Grid Reference: | J644511 Centroid | ||
| Google maps: | 54.38242,-5.46953 | ||
| County: | Down | Council area: | Ards & North Down Borough Council |
| Period: | Silurian | ||
| Lithostrat: | Hawick Group, Kearney Siltstone Formation | ||
| Site Description | |
|---|---|
| Introduction: | |
Knockinelder Bay and Kearney Point are situated on the Irish Sea coast of the Ards Peninsula, about 1km SW of the village of Knockinelder (Fig. 24). Access to Kearney Point is via a lane leading to the shore at the eastern end of Knockinelder Bay. The site contains a number of accessible outcrops of folded turbidite facies rocks (the Kearney Siltstones) which form part of the Hawick Group (Silurian). The structures seen at this site are characteristic of the Caledonian deformation elsewhere in County Down. The principle structures relate to D1 deformation, which resulted from the NW-directed subduction of the Iapetus Oceanic crust and the formation of an imbricated stack of fault-bounded tectonic blocks. Subsequent deformations were related to final closure of Iapetus and subsequent uplift of the accretionary prism. | |
| Description: | |
The site contains evidence of up to four separate phases of Caledonian deformation. At the southern end of Knockinelder Bay there are good quality examples of tight isoclinal folds (F1) in a greywacke and shale dominated turbidite sequence. Close to this site are some intersecting vertical orthorhombic kink bands as described by Anderson (1969). Dextral and sinistral components of the kink band system intersect at an angle of 120° and are symmetrically arranged about the S1 cleavage. About 300m further south along the high water line there are examples of open F1 folds which have a well developed cleavage plunging at 15° towards the NE. There are good examples here of axial cleavage fans and cleavage refraction in the adjoining contrasting siltstone and shale lithologies. Grain elongation in shale and a fibrous quartz crystal growth in an adjacent quartz segregation vein form a mineral stretching lineation (X1) which can be seen in the vicinity of some gently inclined lamprophyre sheets. Across the Down-Longford Belt, Caledonian deformation was accompanied by a very-low grade regional metamorphism during which the rocks were metamorphosed under prehnite-pumpellyite facies conditions. | |
| Notes: | |
For general information on the Structural Geology of Northern Ireland, directions to other Structural Geology sites and an extensive reference list see Key Site 641 - Introduction to the Structural Geology of N. Ireland. The full range of ESCR site relating to the Lower Palaeozoic are as follows: Outer Ards Stratigraphic, Palaeontological and Structural sites Coalpit Bay – Lower Palaeozoic (record no. 1350) Helen’s Bay – Grey Point – Lower Palaeozoic (record no. 1351) Kearney Point – Knockinelder Bay – Lower Palaeozoic (record no. 1352) Orlock Bridge – Lower Palaeozoic (record no. 1353) Tieveshilly – Carrstown – Lower Palaeozoic (record no. 1354) Orlock Bridge - Structural (record no. 652) Whiskin Rocks - Structural (record no. 653) White House Port, Cloghy - Structural (record no. 654) Knockinelder Bay and Kearney Point - Structural (record no. 655) Millin Bay - Structural (record no. 656) Pomeroy area Craigbardahessiagh and Bardahessiagh River – Palaeontology (record no. 29) Lime Hill Farm – Palaeontology (record no. 33) Little River and Slate Quarry Bridge – Palaeontology (record no. 31) | |
| Keywords | |
|---|---|
| Rocks: | Greywacke, Shale, Siltstone, Turbidite, Lamprophyre |
| Structures: | dyke, fold, kink band, cleavage refraction |
| Access | |
|---|---|
| Approach: | Access to Kearney Point is via a lane leading to the shore at the eastern end of Knockinelder Bay. |
| Record type: | ESCR report | Recorded by: | T.P. Johnston |
| Entered by: | E M Porter | ||
| Last updated: | 23/09/03 | ||
| Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Knockinelder Bay and Kearney Point - Structural, County Down, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review. https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=655. Accessed on 2026-11-06. |
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