The Carboniferous system in West Leinster is almost complete, from the first shales deposited as the sea came in over the Old Red Sandstone, and the still older Caledonian land-surface, up to the Middle Coal Measures, which remain on the high plateau of Laois and Kilkenny. The limestone is for the most part gently folded, and the plain of Offaly and Westmeath no doubt owes some of its character to the approximately horizontal position of its strata. Pro- longed denudation, however, ... Read More