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Earth Science Conservation Review
| Little Deer Park Quarries - site of local interest | Antrim |
| Site number: | 736 | ||
| Locality Type: | Quarry (disused) | Status: | local interest |
| Grid Reference: | D329149 Centroid | ||
| Google maps: | 54.96435,-5.92498 | ||
| County: | Antrim | Council area: | Mid & East Antrim Borough Council |
| Period: | Tertiary | ||
| Stages: | Palaeogene | ||
| Lithostrat: | Antrim Lava Group, Lower Basalt Formation | ||
| Site Description | |
|---|---|
| Highlights: | |
Analcime-zone zeolite-bearing basalts are widely distributed in County Antrim, however the Little Deer Park quarries provide an accessible and convenient site where specimen material is abundant. The quarry faces are largely obscured by abundant loose scree of moderately fresh, amygdaloidal basalt. This scree provides good specimens of zeolite minerals notably pink gmelinite, radiating natrolite, and equant crystals of analcime. Less common are chabazite, heulandite, thomsonite, levyne, cowlesite and erionite/offretite. Additionally, the second basalt flow in the quarry exhibits excellent pipe amygdales where vapour bubbles rose through partially congealed lava. | |
| Description: | |
There are several disused basalt quarries near the coast road southeast of Glenarm. This site is located about 150m southwest of the coastal rock feature known as Madman’s or Spy Window, in the townland of Little Deer Park, 2km from Glenarm. Just south of the basalt quarry is a larger limestone quarry connected by a short track that enters the basalt quarry at its south side through a cutting. This cutting exposes the upper surface of the limestone capped with a flint-rich residual soil. In the basalt quarry, the second basalt flow exhibits excellent pipe amygdales where vapour bubbles rose through partially congealed lava. The quarry faces are largely obscured by abundant loose scree of moderately fresh, amygdaloidal basalt. This scree provides good specimens of zeolite minerals notably pink gmelinite, radiating natrolite, and equant crystals of analcime. Less common are chabazite, heulandite, thomsonite, levyne, cowlesite and erionite/offretite (for descriptions of these minerals see Tschernich, 1992). | |
| Importance: | |
The site has some mineralogical significance due to the abundance of specimen material available. | |
| Interpretation: | |
Zeolite minerals are alkali-bearing aluminosilicates that contain chemically-bound water molecules. The occurrence of zeolite minerals in amygdales is characteristic of flood basalt lava piles such as in the Irish and British Tertiary Province and Iceland. Walker (1960 and earlier papers) studied the distribution of zeolite mineral species in the lava piles of Ireland and Iceland, and was the first to demonstrate that zeolite mineralogy related to (a) rock type i.e. whether the host basalt is olivine-bearing or tholeiitic, and (b) depth in the lava pile, i.e. the temperature attained during hydrothermal alteration. The Lower Basalt Formation that is exposed in the Little Deer Park quarries is an olivine basalt and the zeolite mineral assemblage described above is typical of Walker’s analcime zone. The absence of stilbite and mesolite suggests that the assemblage is not within the next deeper zone (scolecite-mesolite), and the presence of heulandite suggests that the assemblage is not within the shallower chabazite zone. Gmelinite, which is particularly abundant in the amygdales at this site, has a restricted geographical distribution (Walker, 1959) largely confined to the eastern coast of County Antrim. This may be related to the circulation of seawater that gained access to the lava pile along faults that parallel the present day coast between Whitehead and Garron Point. | |
| Notes: | |
Although analcime-zone zeolite-bearing basalts are widely distributed in County Antrim, the Little Deer Park quarries provide an accessible and convenient site where specimen material is abundant. Other features, such as pipe amygdales in the basalts and residual soils developed beneath the lava flows, provide additional interest at the site. For these reasons it has been used as a locality for excursions arranged through the Belfast Geologists’ Society and Irish Geological Association. NB: Care should be taken in disused quarries to avoid quarry faces and overhanging rock. See also ESCR Key Site 525 - Little Deer Park Quarries, Glenarm [Mineralogy and Metallogenesis Block]. | |
| Keywords | |
|---|---|
| Minerals: | Analcime, Chabazite, Natrolite, Thomsonite, Zeolites, Gmelinite, Heulandite, Levyne, Cowlesite, Erionite, Offretite |
| Rocks: | Olivine Basalt |
| Structures: | amygdales, pipe amygdaloid |
| Access | |
|---|---|
| Approach: | A series of disused, easily accessible quarries southeast of Glenarm just off the main A2 coast road. |
| Record type: | SLNCI Report | ||
| Entered by: | E M Porter | ||
| Last updated: | 09/10/03 | ||
| Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Little Deer Park Quarries - site of local interest, County Antrim, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review. https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=736. Accessed on 2026-11-06. |
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