Geography

Carved by a Glacier

The landscape didn’t always look like this. Had you been standing here 20,000 years ago you would have been very cold indeed, as Ireland was in the frozen grip of an Ice Age! The steep cliff before you over which the waterfall flows was created by a glacier which, as it retreated, carved out the valley in which you now stand.

Uncover the past

The cliff was formed at the contact point between two different types of rock, granite and mica schist. Look at the boulders and rocks at the base of the waterfall and along the banks of the river – can you pick out the two types? The slatey mica schist, with its silvery sheen is easily distinguished from the whiter, speckled crystalline granite.