Outline Geosite Description
The site includes the foreshore and coastal cliffs both east and west of Garrarus Strand.
Geological System/Age and Primary Rock Type
The bedrock is all of Ordovician age, from about 460 million years ago. The soft sediments overlying bedrock were deposited by ice during the Quaternary (Ice Age).
Main Geological or Geomorphological Interest
The cliffs in this bay include a wide range of rock types and different formations with faults separating and repeating units. There are baked black shales, pale rhyolite intrusions, limestone of the Tramore Limestone Formation and many intrusions of andesite volcanic rock.
At each end of the beach large channels eroded out of the bedrock are seen in section, and are filled with glacial till.
The site is part of the complex of sites along the Copper Coast, which collectively are of national importance and which are already part of a proposed NHA (Ballyvoyle Head to Tramore No 1693).
Access and Safety
The beach has safe access and parking and the rocks are accessible along the beach. If venturing beyond the beach, caution must be taken in relation to the tides, but at low tide it is possible to traverse westwards along to Kilfarrasy.