Gathering drawings, photos, notes, ideas on the hoof
Formation The rock we stand on – Ireland was formed about 440million yrs ago 35deg south of the equator Regional metamorphism results from the large-scale processes of plate tectonics. Rocks caught up in an orogeny (mountain building event) will be deformed and buried, leading to the growth of new minerals. orogenesis The process of mountain formation that happens when two tectonic plates collide, either pushing the Earth’s crust upwards or forcing one plate below another. Not only a politically imposed border but the line? point? margin? where the margins of Iapetus collided In Carlingford – records in the rock “reflect the strike of the colliding margins of Iapetus when the rocks were deformed.”* “The area records the death of an ancient ocean, and the birth of a current one, with a period of tropical paradise somewhere in the middle.”*
“The rocks of the Longford – Down Inlier today form steeply dipping, almost vertical, layers that trend or strike in a NNE-SSW direction, parallel to the Iapetus suture zone”* Carlingford Complex – east and south Cooley – limestone laid down 320ma yrs* In the region of Carlingford Lough, three centres of igneous activity were active from about 61-52Ma ago: Carlingford, Slieve Gullion, and Mourne.* Glacier ice sheets 14000 yrs ago – formed valleys and deposited boulders – dragged long distances.* Earliest humans arrive in Ireland 9000 yrs ago*
*Many thanks to Dr Sadhbh Baxter for this information from the The Geological Field Guide to Cooley, Gullion, Mourne and Slieve Croob @DrSadhbh
Immensity contained? putting a mountain on a page – orogeny , a mountain forming event, birth of a mountain putting 440 million years on a page? dots As above so below- what does this conjure metaphorically ? horizon line of the sea, the mountain ridge against the sky swinging from the power lines Mist rain nebulous vague – myst Long lines- layers sediment 90deg rotation World upside down Ram’s horns the wind can blow through Mountain voice Casting rocks Visually aurally articulating the relationship with the mountain Extremities of scale and life span – human / mountain How the mountain joins the sky a seam to mine thin place a line of steps and stitches or dots microdots bodies people the route sewing the seam with steps away or toward puncturing the earth a crack- to push apart and squeeze through to another place the other side exile depart go leave Presence – physical, now – of history, myth and culture Distillation – of relationship, essence – my time spent here, who cares ? Relative to 440 m yrs what is it??? a dot a microdot
