Our channel ABHAILE is about Ireland. 🍀
We are going to bring a touch of our home to everyone and share some beautiful places we adore here. Our Irish traditions, heritage and history will be a significant area we want to share with the world. We hope you fall in love with our beautiful homeland and if you have any suggestions or questions send us an email. 💚 homeabhaile@gmail.com
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The Cliffs of Moher are sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. They run for about 14 kilometres (9 miles). At their southern end, they rise 120 metres (390 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head, and, 8 kilometres (5 miles) to the north, they reach their maximum height of 214 metres (702 ft) just north of O'Brien's Tower, a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs, built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O'Brien, then continue at lower heights. The closest settlements are the villages of Liscannor 6 km (4 miles) to the south, and Doolin 7 km (4 miles) to the north.
From the cliffs, and from atop the tower, visitors can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. The cliffs rank among the most visited tourist sites in Ireland, with around 1.5 million visits per year.
The cliffs are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland and topped a list of attractions in 2006 by receiving almost one million visitors at the official visitor centre. With additional visitors to other locales included there are around 1.5 million a year. In 2022, approximately 1.1 million visited the Cliffs of Moher, with a majority arriving from the U.S. Since 2011, they have formed a part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, one of a family of geotourism destinations throughout Europe that are members of the European Geoparks Network and also recognized by UNESCO. The cliffs are also a "signature point" on the official Wild Atlantic Way tourist trail.
While the cliffs can be accessed at multiple points, and there is an 18 kilometres (11 miles) Cliff Walk, the majority of visitors come to the official visitor centre.
The cliffs consist mainly of beds of Namurian shale and sandstone, and the oldest rocks are at the bottom of the cliffs. During the time of their formation between 313 and 326 million years ago, a river dumped sand, silt and clay into an ancient marine basin. Over millions of years, the sediments collecting at the mouth of this ancient delta were compacted and lithified into the sedimentary strata preserved in the now-exposed cliffs. The area is considered a geologic laboratory that preserves a record of deltaic deposition in deep water. Individual strata vary in thickness from just a few centimetres to several metres, each representing a specific depositional event in the history of the delta. In aggregate, up to 200 metres of sedimentary rocks are exposed in the Cliffs of Moher. Trace fossils are abundant, comprising two main types: (1) scolicia or worming trails, which are interpreted as feeding trails left by as-yet-unidentified invertebrates, and (2) burrow marks, which are circular features preserved as casts of burrows once occupied by as-yet-unidentified marine creatures. Ripple marks are preserved in some stones.
Today the cliffs are subject to erosion by wave action, which undermines the base of support causing the cliff to collapse under its own weight. This process creates a variety of coastal landforms characteristic of erosional coasts such as sea caves, sea stacks, and sea stumps. Branaunmore, a 67-metre high sea stack at the foot of the Cliffs of Moher below O'Brien's Tower, was once part of the cliffs, but coastal erosion gradually removed the layers of rock that joined it with the mainland. A large sea arch can also be seen at Hag's Head below the Napoleonic signal tower and many smaller sea arches can be seen from sea level.
It is possible to see 300-million-year-old river channels cutting through, forming unconformities at the base of the cliffs.
