Source: Nature: "Ireland"
Major corporate support for the Nature collection was provided by Canon U.S.A. and SC Johnson. Additional support was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the nation’s public television stations.
Glaciated Landscape
(Video)
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The weight and movement of glaciers of the Ice Age has shaped about one-third of the Earth's landmass. Glacial movement formed rolling hills, carved out valleys and created a rich variety of landforms. The Burren in Ireland is one of the finest examples of landscape shaped by glaciation. Learn more about the Burren in this video segment from Nature.
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Ireland, like much of the Northern Hemisphere, was completely covered by glaciers during the Ice Age. As the glaciers advanced and retreated over the land, they shaped and changed the surface of the landmass through the processes of erosion and sedimentation.
The shifting glaciers of the Ice Age helped to shape the Burren – scouring and gouging the dramatic limestone outcrops…
…depositing fertile soils along valleys and hillsides … and carrying giant boulders over huge distances before discarding them at random...
Water has played its part too – finding its way into minute fissures and joints and eating away at the soft limestone to scoop out hollows, grooves, pits and great gullies known as grykes.
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