The Burren - Black Head

© photo : Mathieu Morverand

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The pale grey to greyish-blue limestone layers or tiers that dominate the Burren were laid down at the end of the Lower Carboniferous (Visean) period, some 340 million years ago, in some cases to a thickness of 780 meters. This limestone is composed of the calcium-rich skeletal remains of marine organisms that populated the warm, shallow sea that lay over the region during that distant period.