Dinas is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1877 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate for trans-shipment to the LNWR. Passenger services ceased on 26 September 1936 until which time Dinas had been a joint station, known as Dinas Junction with the LNWR and later the LMS. In 1951, British Railways closed their part of the station but the line through the station remained open until the line from Caernarvon to Afon Wen was closed in 1964.[6] The trackbed was subsequently developed as the Lôn Eifion tourist cycle route.
Limestone
Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. These rocks formed between 363 and 325 million years ago.
During the Carboniferous times Wales lay above sea level, shallow tropical seas. Limestone contains calcite. The calcite is derived mostly from the remains of organisms such as clams, brachiopods, bryozoa, crinoids and corals.
Clams - Clam is a common name for several kinds of Bivalvia. They have a bivalved shell, which has two shells of equal size.
Brachiopods - Brachiopods are marine animals that look similar to clams. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end.
Bryozoa - Bryozoans, also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or moss animals, are a phylum of small aquatic animals living in colonies.
Crinoids - Crinoids or ‘sea lilies’ were not plants as their name suggests, but animals related to starfish and sea urchins. They lived attached to the sea bed or to the underside of driftwood. The body consists of a long stem or stalk with the mouth, organs and five branching arms at the top.
Corals – Corals are sessile animals that "take root" on the ocean floor. It's no wonder that many people think corals are plants!
Please send your answers to the following questions to me via the email or the message centre
Questions
- Explain which feature is covered in the picture
- What size and shape is the feature?
- In what environment was the limestone formed?
- Take a photo at the station, you don’t need to include your face, you could just take it with your caching name on a piece of paper