Published on Friday29thJuly2016

Latest Tellus Survey unearths the secrets of Waterford’s coastline

20160729Tellus

Pictured at the Tellus Waterford Survey results launch at the UNESCO Copper Coast Global Geopark, were Dr. James Hodgson, Tellus Geophysicist, David Blaney, Geologist Unicorn Mineral Resources Ltd. Ray Scanlon, Principal Geologist from Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI), Richard O’ Shea, Chief Executive Unicorn Mineral Resources Ltd. , Minister of State for Natural Resources, Sean Kyne and Mairead Glennon, Tellus Project Manager.

The deeply buried geology of the Waterford region has been revealed in new detail as the results of the most recent phase of the Geological Survey of Ireland’s Tellus Programme are published today.

Complex geology data collected and analysed by the Tellus programme has unveiled island-arc volcanoes, similar to those found in Japan, but which formed some 460 million years ago.

A major geological fault running north-south through the region from Tramore to Mullinavat has also been uncovered in unprecedented detail. These findings will assist economic mineral exploration, as well as contribute to updated geological maps of the area.

Taking almost 6 million geophysical measurements, the Tellus Survey aircraft traversed the sky over eastern Waterford, southern Kilkenny and neighbouring parts of Tipperary and Wexford in May earlier this year. A familiar sight to many in the region, the plane flew 6,560 km – the equivalent of travelling from Waterford to Canada and back – collecting data that will feed into Ireland’s first seamless cross-border geoenvironmental mapping project which began in 2004.

Speaking at the launch of the new data at the UNESCO Copper Coast Geopark visitor centre Minister Sean Kyne said:

The significance of the region for geological and mining heritage is recognised internationally by UNESCO and it continues to attract mineral exploration companies who are interested in the area’s rich mineral potential. Tellus data stimulates investment in areas already mapped across Ireland and we hope to continue to support the mineral exploration industry, the tourism industry and local economies in Waterford and eventually nationwide in coming years.

The new airborne geophysical data from this phase and previous phases of the Tellus Survey are available, free of charge to view and download, at www.tellus.ie. The airborne survey team is currently active in Galway and parts of neighbouring counties, alongside the geochemical survey team which is collecting soil samples in the west of Ireland.

Read the press release for more details.