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Earth Science Conservation Review
| Tiroony - site of local interest | Tyrone |
| Site number: | 756 | ||
| Locality Type: | Inland exposure | Status: | local interest |
| Grid Reference: | H571679 Approximate | ||
| Google maps: | 54.55665,-7.11743 | ||
| County: | Tyrone | Council area: | Fermanagh & Omagh District Council |
| Period: | Quaternary | ||
| Site Description | |
|---|---|
| Highlights: | |
The area around Tiroony is characterised by hummocky mounds and aligned ridges of sand and gravel. Both ridges and mounds occur as high level undulatory surfaces dissected by infrequent but large meltwater channels. The ridges are of ice-marginal morainic origin with ice retreating to the southeast while a northward retreating ice margin gave rise to the moraine system further west around Sixmilecross. | |
| Description: | |
The area around Tiroony is characterised by hummocky mounds and aligned ridges of sand and gravel. Amplitude of relief is generally 5-10m. Ridges are often orientated northeast-southwest and both ridges and mounds occur as high level undulatory surfaces dissected by infrequent but large meltwater channels over 20m deep. Two main exposures near Tiroony show interbedded sand and gravel facies. | |
| Importance: | |
The site is scientifically important as it contains a moraine system of composite origin. | |
| Interpretation: | |
These exposures record sequences of change in the ice marginal environment. Sediment sequences have been strongly affected by their morphological position and relationship to other elements of the landscape. Both exposures are dominated by interbedded sand and gravel facies. General lack of stratification is attributed to continuous sediment deposition and the reworking of material by unconfined slope processes such as gravity flows. Diamict facies on the ridge flanks of one of the exposures can be interpreted as later re-sedimentation on palaeo-high ground. Infilled channels of silt and fine sand are interpreted as resulting from a palaeo-low ground position. Ridges extend for 6km from Tiroony in the northeast to Sixmilecross in the southwest and the northeast to southwest ridge morphology changes from well-defined ridges in a generally flat landscape to a more chaotic series of aligned rounded hills. It is considered that this morainic system formed from a northwards retreating ice margin while the ridges around Tiroony are of ice-marginal morainic origin with ice retreating to the southeast. | |
| Notes: | |
See also ESCR Key Site 493 - Ballygawley Delta Complex - Tiroony Ridges [Sand and Gravel Landscapes Block]. | |
| Keywords | |
|---|---|
| Rocks: | Gravel, Sand |
| Relations: | Deglacial sediments, Ice retreat |
| Geomorph: | hummocky moraine, meltwater channel, moraine ridge |
| Paleoenv: | deglacial |
| Measurements | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length: | 6km | Width: | Height: | ||
| Depth: | Area: | ||||
| Access | |
|---|---|
| Approach: | This site is located approximately 5km east of Sixmilecross on the B46 road. |
| Uses | |
| Educ. Level: | The site is of educational value to researchers and students of glaciology. |
| Record type: | SLNCI Report | ||
| Entered by: | E M Porter | ||
| Last updated: | 09/10/03 | ||
| Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Tiroony - site of local interest, County Tyrone, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review. https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=756. Accessed on 2026-11-07. |
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