Dublin Basin

The Carboniferous rocks of the Dublin Basin extend from the east coast of north Co. Dublin westwards to the River Shannon at Athlone and northwards to the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the Longford-Down Massif (see Strogen et al. 1996, fig. 5; Sevastopulo & Wyse Jackson 2001, fig. 10.12; Fig. 21.1). They occur in counties Longford, Westmeath, Meath, north Co. Dublin, north Co. Offaly, north Co. Kildare and south Co. Dublin. Most of the rocks in the region belong to the Mississippian Subsystem, with Pennsylvanian strata preserved only in boreholes at Kingscourt (Fig. 21.2, Col. 1). The marine Tournaisian strata present above a basal continental siliciclastic facies are represented by three contrasting lithological successions referred to as the North Midlands, Kildare and Limerick provinces (see Philcox 1984; Strogen & Somerville 1984; Sevastopulo & Wyse Jackson 2001).