Geography of Ireland

in western Banagh|alt=See caption The geology of Ireland is diverse. Different regions contain rocks belonging to different geological periods, dating back almost 2 billion years. The oldest known Irish rock is about 1.7 billion years old and is found on Inishtrahull Island off the north coast of Inishowen and on the mainland at Annagh Head on the Mullet Peninsula. The newer formations are the drumlins and glacial valleys as a result of the last ice age, and the sinkholes and cave formations in the limestone regions of Clare. Ireland's geological history includes a wide range of elements, from volcanism and tropical seas to the last glacial period. Ireland was formed in two distinct parts, which slowly joined, uniting about 440 million years ago. As a result of tectonics and the effect of ice, the sea level has risen and fallen. In every area of the country, the rocks which formed can be seen as a result. Finally, the impact of the glaciers shaped the landscape seen today. The variation between the two areas, along with the differences between volcanic areas and shallow seas, led to a range of soils. There are extensive bogs and free-draining brown earths. The mountains are granite, sandstone, limestone with karst areas, and basalt formations. Most of Ireland was probably above sea level during the last 60 million years. As such its landscapes have been shaped by erosion and weathering on land. Before the Quaternary glaciations affected Ireland the landscape had developed thick weathered regolith on the uplands and karst in the lowlands. While some have argued for an origin in marine planation, others regard these surfaces as peneplains formed by weathering and fluvial erosion. Not only is their origin disputed but also their actual extent and the relative role of sea-level change and tectonics in their shaping. ==Physical geography==

Mountain ranges Ireland consists of a mostly flat low-lying area in what are known as the Midlands. It is ringed by mountain ranges such as—beginning in County Cork and working clockwise—the Boggeragh Mountains, Derrynasaggart Mountains, Caha Mountains, MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Slieve Mish Mountains, Mullaghareirk Mountains, the Twelve Bens/Maumturks group, Nephinbeg Mountains, Ox Mountains, Bluestack Mountains, Derryveagh Mountains, Sperrin Mountains, the Mournes, Wicklow Mountains, Blackstairs Mountains, Comeragh Mountains and Knockmealdown Mountains. Some mountain ranges are further inland in the south of Ireland, such as the Galtee Mountains (the highest inland range), Silvermine and Slieve Bloom Mountains. and another 457 exceed . There are a number of walking trails in the mountains, with the longest being that through the Wicklow Mountains. In the Mourne Mountains, with multiple walking trails, a wall was built between the 13 major peaks, the Mourne Wall. Rivers and lakes , County Westmeath|alt=See caption Waterbodies accounted for around 2% of the land area of Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland there are over of rivers and streams, more than of lake and over of reservoirs; these are not evenly distributed—over 30% of the watercourse length is found in Counties Cork, Donegal and Mayo, while Counties Mayo and Galway hold over 40% of the total lake area. Almost all of the reservoir area lies in just two counties, Wicklow (2/3) and Cork (1/3). In Northern Ireland, Lough Neagh is by far the leading source of water. The River Shannon, at in length, is the longest river in Ireland and Britain. With a drainage area of , the Shannon River Basin covers one-fifth of the island. The Shannon crosses 11 counties and divides the west of Ireland from the south and east. The river develops into three large lakes along its course, Lough Allen, Lough Ree, and Lough Derg. Lough Neagh, in Ulster, Clockwise round the coast is Belfast Lough, between County Antrim and County Down. Also in County Down is Strangford Lough, actually an inlet partially separating the Ards peninsula from the mainland. Further south, Carlingford Lough is situated between Down and County Louth. On the south coast, Waterford Harbour is situated at the mouth of the River Suir, into which the other two of the Three Sisters (the Rivers Nore and Barrow) flow. The next major inlet is Cork Harbour, at the mouth of the River Lee, in which Great Island is situated. Dunmanus Bay, Kenmare estuary and Dingle Bay are all inlets between the peninsulas of western County Cork and County Kerry. North of these is the Shannon Estuary. Between north County Clare and County Galway is Galway Bay. Clew Bay is located on the coast of County Mayo, south of Achill Island, while Broadhaven Bay, Blacksod Bay and Sruth Fada Conn bays are situated in northwest Connacht, in North Mayo. Killala Bay is on the northeast coast of Mayo. Donegal Bay is a major inlet between County Donegal and County Sligo. Headlands Malin Head is the most northerly point in Ireland, while Mizen Head is one of the most southern points, hence the term "from Malin to Mizen" (or the reverse) is used for anything applying to the island of Ireland as a whole. Carnsore Point is another extreme point of Ireland, being its southeasternmost point. Hook Head and the Old Head of Kinsale are two of many headlands along the south coast. Loop Head is the headland at which County Clare comes to a point on the west coast of Ireland, with the Atlantic on the north, and the Shannon estuary to the south. Hag's Head is another headland further up Clare's north/western coastline, with the Cliffs of Moher along the coastline north of the point. Islands and peninsulas |alt=See caption Achill Island, off the west coast, is the largest of Ireland's offshore islands. Achill is inhabited, and is permanently connected to the mainland by a bridge. Some of the next largest islands are the Aran Islands, off the coast of southern Connacht, host to an Irish-speaking community, or Gaeltacht. Valentia Island off the Iveragh peninsula is also one of Ireland's larger islands, and is relatively settled, as well as being connected by a bridge at its southeastern end. Omey Island, off the coast of Connemara, is a tidal island. Some of the best-known peninsulas in Ireland are in Counties Cork and Kerry: the Dingle peninsula, the Iveragh peninsula and the Beara peninsula. Other promontories outside the southwest include the Fanad (Fannet Head), Mullet Peninsula, the Old Head of Kinsale, Hook Head, Howth Head and the Cooley Peninsula. The Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal includes Ireland's most northerly point, Malin Head, and several towns, including Buncrana on Lough Swilly, Carndonagh and Moville on Lough Foyle. Ireland's most northerly undisputed land feature is Inishtrahull island, off Malin Head. Rockall Island lies farther north but its status is disputed, being claimed by the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Denmark (on behalf of the Faroe Islands) and Iceland. The most southerly point is the Fastnet Rock. The Hebrides off Scotland and Anglesey off Wales were grouped with Ireland ("Hibernia") by the Greco-Roman geographer Ptolemy. Forests Like much of Atlantic Europe, Ireland was once covered in temperate rainforest. Deforestation began in the Neolithic Age with the arrival of early farmers and the introduction of agriculture, and accelerated following the Plantations of Ireland, resulting in forest cover of only 1% by the end of the nineteenth century. As of 2017, total tree cover in the Republic of Ireland stood at 11% of land area but the figure for native forest stood at just 2% in 2018, the third lowest in Europe, behind Iceland and Malta. Of the 172 countries assessed, Ireland has the sixth most degraded forest landscape in the world. Marine geography The coastline of Ireland is long. As the continental shelf extends far to the west and southwest, the larger of the two jurisdictions on the island has extensive seabed claims, exceeding , more than 10 times the land area. ==Climate==

in Ireland|alt=See caption The climate of Ireland is mild, humid and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. Ireland's climate is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of northwest Europe. The country receives generally warm summers and mild winters. It is considerably warmer than other areas at the same latitude on the other side of the Atlantic, such as in Newfoundland, because it lies downwind of the Atlantic Ocean, and is also warmer than maritime climates near the same latitude, such as the Pacific Northwest, as a result of heat released by the Atlantic overturning circulation that includes the North Atlantic Current and Gulf Stream. For comparison, Dublin is 9 °C warmer than St. John's in Newfoundland in winter. The influence of the North Atlantic Current also ensures the coastline of Ireland remains ice-free throughout the winter. The climate in Ireland does not experience extreme weather, with tornadoes and similar weather features being rare. However, Ireland is prone to eastward moving cyclones which come in from the North Atlantic. The prevailing wind comes from the southwest, breaking on the high mountains of the west coast. The overall mean temperature (measured 1990–2020) is . January and February are the coldest months of the year, with mean daily air temperatures of during these months. July and August are the warmest, with mean daily temperatures of , whilst mean daily maximums in July and August are , lower near the coast, higher inland. The sunniest months are May and June, with an average of five to seven hours sunshine per day. Though extreme weather events in Ireland are comparatively rare when compared with other countries in the European Continent, they do occur. Atlantic depressions, occurring mainly in the months of December, January and February, can occasionally bring winds of up to to Western coastal counties; while the summer months, and particularly around late July/early August, thunderstorms can develop. The tables below show mean 30-year climate averages for Ireland's two largest cities, taken from the weather stations at Dublin Airport and Belfast International Airport respectively. The state metrological service for the Republic of Ireland is Met Éireann, while the Met Office monitors climate data for Northern Ireland. ==Political and human geography==

Ireland is divided into four provinces—Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster—and 32 counties. Six of the nine Ulster counties form Northern Ireland and the other 26 form the state, Ireland. The map shows all 32 counties. Administratively, 23 of the counties in the Republic of Ireland are local government areas. Three contain more than one local government areas: the cities of Dublin, Cork and Galway have city councils that are administered separately from the counties bearing those names, and the remaining part of County Dublin is divided into Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin. County Tipperary had two ridings, North Tipperary and South Tipperary, originally established in 1838, renamed in 2001 and amalgamated in 2014. The cities of Limerick and Waterford were merged with their respective county councils in 2014 to form new city and county councils. In making its recommendations on changes to Dáil constituencies, the Electoral Commission is required to avoid breaching county boundaries as far as practicable. In Northern Ireland, a major re-organisation of local government in 1973 replaced the six traditional counties and two county boroughs (Belfast and Derry) with 26 single-tier districts, which, apart from Fermanagh, cross the traditional county boundaries. The six counties and two county boroughs remain in use for purposes such as Lieutenancy. Under a further reform in 2015, this was revised into 11 areas: the city of Belfast and 10 districts. According to separate censuses conducted in 2021 and 2022, the island's population is over 7 million people concentrated in the east and south, particularly in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and their surrounding areas. The 2021 United Kingdom census recorded a population in Northern Ireland of 1,903,175 and the 2022 Irish census recorded a population of the Republic of Ireland of 5,149,139. ==Natural resources==

Fens and bogs peat-harvesting in the Bog of Allen|alt=See caption Ireland has 12,000 km2 (about 4,600 sq miles) of bog land, consisting of two distinct types: blanket bogs and raised bogs. There is also a modest amount of surviving fen, a related landform. Raised bogs, most commonly found in the Shannon basin, are scarcer than blanket bogs. They formed when depressions left behind after the ice age filled with water to form lakes. Debris from reeds in these lakes formed a layer of at the bottom of the water. This eventually choked the lakes and raised above the surface, forming raised bogs. Blanket bogs are essentially a product of human activity aided by the moist Irish climate, having formed on sites where Neolithic farmers cleared trees for farming. Usage and concerns Since the 17th century, peat has been cut for fuel for domestic heating and cooking, and it is called turf when so used. The process accelerated as commercial exploitation of bogs grew. In the 1940s, machines for cutting turf were introduced and larger-scale harvesting became possible. In the Republic, this became the responsibility of a semi-state company called Bord na Móna. In addition to domestic uses, commercially extracted turf is used in a number of industries, producing peat briquettes for domestic fuel and milled peat for electricity generation. More recently peat is being combined with biomass for dual-firing electricity generation. In recent years, the destruction of bogs has raised environmental concerns. The issue is particularly acute for raised bogs which were more widely mined as they yield a higher-grade fuel than blanket bogs. Plans are now in place in both the Republic and Northern Ireland to conserve most of the remaining raised bogs on the island. Oil, natural gas and minerals pipeline makes landfall at Glengad, County Mayo|alt=See caption Ireland is the largest European producer of zinc, with one zinc-lead mine currently in operation at Tara, which is Europe's largest and deepest active mine. Other mineral deposits with actual or potential commercial value include gold, silver, gypsum, talc, calcite, dolomite, roofing slate, limestone aggregate, building stone, sand, and gravel. Hydrocarbons Offshore exploration for natural gas began in 1970. The first major discovery was the Kinsale Head gas field in 1971. Next were the smaller Ballycotton gas field in 1989, Gas from these fields is pumped ashore and used for both domestic and industrial purposes. The Helvick oil field, estimated to contain over of oil, was discovered in 2000, and Barryroe, estimated to contain 1.6 billion barrels (250,000,000 m3) of oil, was discovered in 2012, although neither have been exploited. In May 2007 the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (now replaced by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources) reported that there may be volumes over of petroleum and of natural gas in Irish waters – worth trillions of euro, if true. The minimum confirmed amount of oil in the Irish Atlantic waters is , worth over €450 billion. There are also areas of petroleum and natural gas on shore, for example the Lough Allen basin, with of gas and of oil, valued at €74.4 billion. Already some fields are being exploited, such as the Spanish Point field, with of gas and of oil, valued at €19.6 billion. The Corrib Basin is also quite large, worth anything up to €87 billion, while the Dunquin gas field, initially estimated to have of natural gas and of petroleum In March 2012, the first commercial oil well was drilled off the Cork coast by Providence Resources, renamed Barryroe Offshore. At the time, Providence's executive Tony O'Reilly Jr. said, "It's a defining moment for the Irish offshore oil and gas industry." The Barryroe oil well was yielding 3,500 barrels per day in exploratory drilling; at oil prices of $120 a barrel, Barryroe oil well was worth in excess of €2.14bn annually in 2012. However, in 2023, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications declined approval of the "Lease Undertaking" that would be necessary to finish appraisal drilling, and Barryroe Offshore Energy will now wind down their business by a voluntary liquidation so the field may not be developed. Legal action may be taken by investors against the Irish government including the minor 20% investor Lansdowne Oil & Gas. Renewable energy Under the original 2009 Renewable Energy Directive the Republic of Ireland had set a target of producing 16% of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020 but in 2018 the second Renewable Energy Directive increased the target to 32% by 2030. Between 2005 and 2014 the percentage of energy from renewable energy sources grew from just 3.1% to 8.6% of total final consumption. By 2020 the overall renewable energy share was 13.5%, short of its Renewable Energy Drive target of 16%. Renewable electricity accounted for 69% of all renewable energy used in 2020, up from two thirds (66.8%) in 2019. Bellacorick wind farm, built by Bord na Móna in 1992, was the first Irish wind farm with an individual turbine capacity of 0.3 MW which compared with the current capacity of 4–5 MW means that when turbines age out, replacements will produce significantly more power per installation. the Republic of Ireland had more than 300 wind farms but the number will have to double by 2030 if the current 40% of renewable energy is to double. Most of the energy will have to come from inshore wind farms because the sole offshore wind farm, Arklow Bank Wind Park, only produces 0.6% of the nation's total wind energy. The 80% target is an ambitious aspect of the Climate Action Plan some impediments, such as planning permission and the age of existing wind farms, may hinder this aspiration. A floating 400 MW wind farm off the coast of Northern Ireland was proposed for the North Channel in 2022 to be operating by 2029. Another northern project, opened in October 2023, was set up under a corporate power purchase agreement in which Amazon, who backed the project, will be the off-taker of all the power produced by the 16-MW Ballykeel 7-turbine wind farm in County Antrim. In November 2023, EDF Renewables announced their Carrowkeel Wind Farm which will be a 30 MW project for County Roscommon for completion in 2028 which should power more than 20,000 homes. Solar energy As of the 2020 Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland report "Energy in Ireland", solar energy was only contributing 1% of renewable energy. Opposition to the visual impact of solar farms, and other forms of renewable energy, was noted as hindering some projects. DIT School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering's Professor Barry McMullin suggests that: "So while it's the cheapest form of electricity you can get that's only true if your demand for it happens to match when it's available. But if what you actually want is electricity on tap, then solar PV doesn't give you that". Solar energy for about 3,600 homes has been in production with 33,600 solar modules installed on 25 hectares near Ashford, County Wicklow since April 2022. It is the first such venture at scale in the Republic of Ireland, with a capacity of 8 MW. A forecast from ESB Networks suggests that by the end of 2023, the country will be producing 1 GW. This is up from the 700 MW being produced in mid-summer from 60,000 micro-generation customers, adding to the 371 MW of utility-scale installations. 2013 saw a new 50 million Euro solar panel scheme specially for schools in eleven counties of the Republic, that should save typical schools between €1,200 to €1,600 per year. Connected to the grid, the up-to 6-kilowatt installation will be most efficient when the schools are not in use. The first ground-based solar farm on the island is situated in the townland of Crookedstone, County Antrim, and is connected to Belfast International Airport, providing 27% of the airport's annual energy needs. This wind farm was built by Lightsource and BP bought full control of the company in November 2023 having first invested in the company in 2017. Hydroelectric power pumped-storage scheme|alt=See caption The first Shannon hydroelectric scheme was constructed in 1929 within seven years of independence. Built by Siemens-Schuckert with Irish engineers doing much of the design and using mostly Irish labour, it has an 86 MW capacity and has an annual generation capacity of 332 GWh. This was followed up by the much larger Turlough Hill Power Station, the only pumped-storage built into a mountain with a capacity of 292 MW. It was completed in 1974 after 6 years of construction. A few other smaller hydroelectric stations exist around the Republic of Ireland, such as Pollaphuca and Inniscarra Dam. Catherine Halpin, Ardnacrusha's plant manager, suggests the four main hydro plants are availing of about 70% of the country's water resources. A tidal energy system is in operation since 2008 in Strangford Lough producing 1.2 MW using an underwater windmill, whose rotors at driven by the tidal currents. The power is bought for ESB Independent's Republic and Northern Ireland consumers. The system has a capacity to produce enough electricity for about 1,000 homes. Also in Northern Ireland, an Evopod tidal energy system has been tested and connected to the Marine Laboratory of Queen's University Belfast that should be connected to the electric grid. ==See also==