Sruhanleanantawey Burn ASSI

Sruhanleanantawey Burn has been designated an ASSI because of its important geology.

The area provides access to a range of rocks that are exposed along the stream. The rocks here date from the Ordovician period of Earth history and are some 460 million years old.

The stream section exposes a sequence of sedimentary, volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of Ordovician age, some 460 million years old.
A mixture of sedimentary, volcanic and other igneous rocks are exposed.

These originally lay in an ancient ocean called the Iapetus.
The type of volcanic rocks found at the site show that the rocks formed in what’s known as an `Island Arc' setting, similar to Japan and the Caribbean Islands today.