Celtic - Turlough EarthCache
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A turlough, or turlach, is a type of disappearing lake found mostly in limestone areas of Ireland, west of the River Shannon. The name comes from the Irish "tuar", meaning dry, with the suffix "lach", meaning a place (in an abstract sense). The "lach" suffix is often mistakenly spelled and/or thought to refer to the word "loch", the Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Scots word for lake. They are found in Irish karst (exposed limestone) areas. The features are almost unique to Ireland, although there is one example in Great Britain in Llandeilo. - This is Where this earth cache is placed, because it is the only one in the UK.
They are of great interest to many scientists: geomorphologists are interested in how turloughs were formed, hydrologists try to explain what makes turloughs flood, botanists study the unusual vegetation which covers the turlough floor and zoologists study the animals associated with the turloughs. All of the turloughs are found in limestone areas. This is because limestone can be dissolved away by rainwater, which becomes mildly acidic by picking up carbon dioxide as it passes through the atmosphere. The cracks or joints in the rock become widened to such an extent that eventually all of the rain falling on the limestone disappears underground and the water moves through the rock openings ranging from cracks a few millimetres wide to large cave passages. The limestone is then said to be karstified. To the east of the Shannon, the limestone is often covered by great thicknesses of glacial drift deposited during the Ice Age but in many areas to the west of the Shannon where the limestone is pure and the drift cover is thin, there is no proper surface river network. In these areas, rainfall disappears underground, flows through openings in the rock and then rises at springs: large springs can be found to the west of the area, flowing into Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. In winter, when the underground water level (or water table) rises, and when the underground flow rises, and when the underground flow routes to the springs are not capable of dealing with the amount of water entering them, groundwater may appear temporarily at the surface in the form of a turlough. Many of the rivers seen in these areas today are largely artificial, constructed by drainage engineers from the nineteenth century up to the present day, often linking a series of turloughs. For example, much of the River Clare is artificial and the middle section of its course used to be a huge turlough, the largest in Ireland at 6.5 square kilometres (3 sq mi).
Turloughs provide good summer grazing for cattle, sheep and horses, partly because of the annual deposition of lime-rich silt. However, for many years, farmers have seen the winter flooding as a waste of potential and they have attempted to find some means of draining the turloughs so that they can be used all year round. This has usually been achieved by digging an artificial channel through the turlough, capable of carrying away any water entering the turlough from surface or groundwater – such channels have often been constructed as part of major arterial drainage schemes. At least a third of the turloughs in Ireland have already been drained and more are being drained each year. This has very serious environmental consequences - the unique flora and fauna of the turlough cannot survive in the absence of seasonal flooding. Even for farmers, the benefits are not always as great as anticipated – the stopping of the annual limy silt deposition means that the soil may become impoverished and fertilisers must be used. Also, the poorly developed and delicate soil may not be able to withstand the presence of animals through the winter. This Turlough is also part of local history as it is here that Welsh Prince Owain Ap Dafyddd was murdered.
To answer question 2) you may require measuring Equipment.
1) When did some quarry men enter a cave near pantyllun? And what did they find?
2) What was the height (depth) of the water in the Turlough on the day of your visit. (Near the edge - There is no need to enter the turlough)
3) From what you can see how has recent weather and seasonal change effected the depth of the turlough, on the day of your visit.
4) How many toads make migration to the turlough each year?
And finally please take a photo of yourself with the turlough behind you, (Down by the turlough with the information board in front of you (This is optional)
Please email or message me the answers, If I don't get back to you then there is no problem, however if there is then I will email you back. Please email me BEFORE logging the cache, any logs posted without prior email will be deleted in till email is sent.
This cache is placed with the kind permission of the landowner. Thank you.
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