One of the places I was recommended to visit in Ireland is Dog’s Bay in Connemara. It is especially interesting place for sand enthusiasts because the beach sand is composed of various biogenic grains. Thanks to Carla Lagendijk I already had a sample of this interesting sand in my collection and I have written a short post about this sand. This sand covers extensive area as you can see below and it is not confined to Dog’s Bay. I saw similarly white but much coarser sand (maerl) in Mannin Bay nearby which I will describe in another post.
The rocks on the beach are granitic. This is local bedrock, not glacial erratics.
Closeup of red granite with K-feldspar phenocrysts.
Almost like Bahama.
Me and one of the places every sand collector should visit before they die. This was joke, in case you did not understand, book titles like that make me sick.
The beach sediment at Dog’s Bay is composed mostly of Foraminifera as well as the calcareous remains of molluscs, barnacles, sponges and fragments of other marine organisms such as echinoderms and bryozoans. It is not considered a maerl beach.
Beaches at Mannin Bay, Carraroe and nearby are composed of the remains of the coralline algae.
I have a short article on the sands of the area I would be happy to send to you if you are interested
Thanks, Elaine. I visited Mannin Bay also. Sand there is much coarser, individual grains are visible to the naked eye. I did not know so far why these beaches are different. I took sand samples from both beaches but have not yet looked them through microscope. I am interested in your article. My e-mail is [email protected]
Do any of you live near to dog’s bay please? My grandson was promised a ‘sandwich box’ of the sand but the promise was broken. I am desperate to get him some as I think it cruel to brwak promises to children but as I live in nOrth Wales and am disabled it is difficult. If anyone could help I’d be grateful and of course would pay the postage etc. [email protected]
Thank you anyway