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In
10th year our first topic is about the study of rocks.
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In September 2003, to help our studies we were all given the chance
to go on a field study.
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Our first location is Belshaws Quarry, which was worked for limestone
until the early 60s. It is now owned by the National Trust and open
to the public to walk around and look at the rocks. The Quarry is
made up of many rocks including Basalt, Chalk, Lignite and Mudstone.
The oldest rock is over 225 million years old!!!!!
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Basalt,
which is 66 million years old tells us that Northern Ireland once
had volcanoes, chalk which is 90 million years old tells us that
it was once under a tropical sea. Lignite is a soft coal which tells
us we once had a tropical climate and about plants we once had and
Mudstone which is 225 million years old tells us that Northern Ireland
was once a desert. The youngest rock in the quarry is boulder clay
- and even it is 2 MILLION years old!!!
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We
also visited the beach at Larne, where we walked around to look
for rocks and fossils.
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Our
teachers split us into groups, and we had worksheets to fill in
which tested our knowledge of the rocks.
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We learnt about the rocks and the clues that they tell us about
the history of our country.
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The
trip was a great success; the weather was fabulous, we learnt lots
about rocks and we all had a superb day out.
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