Turlough ( lake ) - wikipedia Turlough ( lake ) Jump to : navigation , search This article includes a list of references , but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . ( February 2017 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) A turlough , or turlach , is a type of disappearing lake found mostly in limestone areas of Ireland , west of the River Shannon . The name comes from the Irish tuar , meaning `` dry '' , with the suffix - lach , meaning `` a place '' ( in an abstract sense ) . The - lach suffix is often mistakenly spelled and / or thought to refer to the word loch , the Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Scots word for `` lake '' . The landforms are found in Irish karst ( exposed limestone ) areas . The features are almost unique to Ireland , although there is one example in Great Britain , at Cernydd Carmel near Llandeilo . They are of great interest to many scientists : geomorphologists are interested in how turloughs were formed , hydrologists try to explain what makes turloughs flood , botanists study the unusual vegetation which covers the turlough floor , and zoologists study the animals associated with the turloughs . The turlough at Carran , Co . Clare , Ireland in late May 2005 . The water level is high following a spell of wet weather Contents ( hide ) 1 Locations 2 Seasonal pools 3 Formation 4 Swallow holes 5 Calcium carbonate deposits 6 Plant and animal life 7 Draining of turloughs 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links Locations ( edit ) Pant y Llyn turlough , South Wales Turloughs are mostly found on the central lowlands west of the Shannon , in counties Galway , Clare , Mayo , and Roscommon , although a few are also found elsewhere , e.g. in Limerick , Sligo , Longford , and Cork . Only three turloughs have been identified in Northern Ireland , namely Roosky , Green , and Fardrum Loughs located near Ely Lodge Forest in County Fermanagh . These constitute the most northerly turloughs in Ireland and have been collectively designated a Ramsar site and an Area of Special Scientific Interest . There is one turlough in South Wales , Pant y Llyn . Seasonal pools ( edit ) Most turloughs flood in the autumn , usually sometime in October , and then dry up some time between April and July . However , some turloughs in the Burren can flood at any time of year in a matter of a few hours after heavy rainfall , and they may empty again a few days later . Some turloughs are affected by the oceanic tide : in the summer , Caherglassaun Lough , situated 5 kilometres from Galway Bay , can be seen to flood and empty again twice every 24 hours . Most turloughs flood to a depth of about 2 metres ( 6.6 ft ) but some are much deeper : for example , some of the turloughs near Gort reach about 5 metres ( 16 ft ) deep in midwinter . Turloughs are variable in size : the largest turlough in Ireland , Rahasane turlough , which lies to the west of Craughwell in County Galway , covers about 2.5 square kilometres ( 1 sq mi ) . Formation ( edit ) All of the turloughs are found in limestone areas . This is because limestone can be dissolved away by rainwater , which becomes mildly acidic by picking up carbon dioxide as it passes through the atmosphere . The cracks or joints in the rock become widened to such an extent that eventually all of the rain falling on the limestone disappears underground , and the water moves through the rock openings ranging from cracks a few millimetres wide to large cave passages . The limestone is then said to be `` karstified '' . To the east of the Shannon , the limestone is often covered by great thicknesses of glacial drift deposited during the last glacial period , but in many areas to the west of the Shannon where the limestone is pure and the drift cover is thin , there is no proper surface river network . In these areas , rainfall disappears underground , flows through openings in the rock and then rises at distant springs : large springs can be found to the west of the area , flowing into Lough Corrib and Galway Bay . In winter , when the underground water level ( or water table ) rises , and when the underground flow increases , and when the underground flow routes to the springs are not capable of dealing with the amount of water entering them , groundwater may appear temporarily at the surface in the form of a turlough . Many of the rivers seen in these areas today are largely artificial , constructed by drainage engineers from the nineteenth century up to the present day , often linking a series of turloughs . For example , much of the River Clare is artificial , and the middle section of its course used to be a huge turlough , the largest in Ireland at 6.5 square kilometres ( 3 sq mi ) . Swallow holes ( edit ) Turloughs usually fill and empty at particular places on the floor of the depression ; sometimes an actual hole or passage is visible but more often a hollow with stones in the bottom is all that can be seen , and it may not be easy to recognise when it is dry in midsummer . Some turloughs have a spring at one place and a sinkhole ( also known as a `` swallet '' ) somewhere else on the floor where water drains away , but many turloughs fill and empty through the same hole . A few turloughs are filled by surface rivers and streams flowing into them as well as by water rising from underground . The water sinking in the swallow hole travels underground to re-emerge at a spring , which may be several kilometres away . In most rock types , groundwater flows very slowly ( from just a few centimetres to a few metres per day ) , but in karstified limestone the volumetric flow rate can be quite rapid : water from the turlough may flow underground to a spring at a rate of 100 metres per hour ( 330 ft / h ) or more . Calcium carbonate deposits ( edit ) Limestone is made up of the mineral calcium carbonate , and as water passes through limestone , it dissolves the calcium carbonate ( this is what makes hard water and causes mineral deposits on the inside of kettles ) as the calcium carbonate comes out of solution when the water is heated . Something rather similar happens in turloughs ; water that has picked up a lot of calcium carbonate during its underground travel rises in the turloughs and then some of the calcium carbonate comes out of solution and forms a white deposit . If a turlough has emptied recently , a whitish coating on the vegetation on the turlough floor may be visible . When water comes to the surface in a turlough , it loses carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere and to plants , which use it for photosynthesis , and this loss causes a deposit of calcium carbonate on the surface . Sometimes a special whitish deposit with the appearance of sheets of paper is found in the turloughs when they dry up . This `` algal paper '' is made up of filaments of an alga that grows abundantly in warm weather and is then left to dry out in sheets when the turlough empties . In drainage ditches in a turlough , or in holes made with a soil auger , one may find a white - or cream - coloured deposit beneath the vegetation cover , or beneath a layer of peat . This is often called `` white marl '' ; again , it is made of calcium carbonate . About half of the turloughs contain marl ; it was deposited at a time several thousand years ago when these turloughs were not seasonal lakes but were flooded all year round . Plant and animal life ( edit ) Most turloughs have a springy , short - cropped turf of grasses , sedges , and herbs . In the Burren , the high - water mark is often shown by the shrubby cinquefoil ( Dasiphora fruticosa ) with its attractive yellow flowers , and meadow rue . Just below the high - water mark , dog violets are abundant and in some turloughs there may be a dense sward of the rare sky - blue turlough violet about one metre further down . Other characteristic plants of turlough sides include marsh orchids and speedwell . About halfway down the sides , and across the bottom of shallow turloughs , silverweed ( Argentina anserina ) may blanket almost all other plants . If the turlough has a marshy zone near the swallow hole there may be mint , watercress , pondweeds , aquatic buttercups , and knotgrass living a semiterrestrial existence . But most swallow holes when dry are represented by a jumble of rocks , clothed with blackish and dried aquatic mosses ( Cinclidotus , the turlough moss , and Fontinalis , usually found in streams ) . Many people think that turloughs have no animal life . However , frogs and newts may spawn there , and sticklebacks may survive in the larger turloughs , retreating into underground cracks in the rock when waters are low . Shrimps and water lice do the same , and where fish are absent there may be a rich fauna of delicate water fleas and fairy shrimps , some unknown elsewhere in Ireland . These hatch and grow fast , finding safety in the warm fish - free waters . Flatworms and snails are also often abundant ; these pass the dry periods in spring mouths or marshy areas . Rahasane turlough in Galway has been described as the most important turlough in Ireland for birdlife . It is famous for its greater white - fronted geese , whooper swans , wigeon , teal , and many waders in winter . Both Rahasane turlough and Coole Park are Important Bird Areas . Draining of turloughs ( edit ) Turloughs provide good summer grazing for cattle , sheep and horses , partly because of the annual deposition of lime - rich silt . However , for many years , farmers have seen the winter flooding as a waste of potential and they have attempted to find some means of draining the turloughs so that they can be used all year round . This has usually been achieved by digging an artificial channel through the turlough , capable of carrying away any water entering the turlough from surface or groundwater -- such channels have often been constructed as part of major arterial drainage schemes . At least a third of the turloughs in Ireland have already been drained and more are being drained each year . This has very serious environmental consequences , because the unique flora and fauna of the turlough can not survive in the absence of seasonal flooding . Even for farmers , the benefits are not always as great as anticipated ; the stopping of the annual limy silt deposition means that the soil may become impoverished and fertilisers must be used . Also , the poorly developed and delicate soil may not be able to withstand the presence of animals through the winter . See also ( edit ) Karst Subterranean river References ( edit ) Jump up ^ Joint Nature Conservation committee . `` SAC Selection Turloughs '' . www.jncc.gov.uk . Retrieved 2 April 2008 . Jump up ^ `` Habitat account - Freshwater habitats - 3180 Turloughs '' . Joint Nature Conservation Committee . Retrieved 2 November 2017 . Jump up ^ Kelly , J.G. ; Enlander , I. ; Kelly , A.M. ; Fogg , T. ( 2002 ) . `` The geological setting , hydrology and ecology of Roosky Turlough , Ely , Co . Fermanagh , Northern Ireland '' . Cave and Karst Science . British Cave Research Association . 29 ( 3 ) . Jump up ^ `` Fardrum and Roosky Turloughs '' . Northern Ireland Environment Agency . Archived from the original on 22 June 2010 . Retrieved 17 March 2010 . Jump up ^ `` Fardrum and Roosky Turloughs ASSI '' . Northern Ireland Environment Agency . Retrieved 17 March 2010 . Jump up ^ http://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/protected-sites/synopsis/SY000322.pdf Jump up ^ BirdLife International ( 2015 ) Important Bird Areas factsheet : Rahasane turlough . Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 15 / 06 / 2015 Article originally taken from an information sheet on turloughs available at ENFO , St. Andrew Street , Dublin 2 , Ireland . Further reading ( edit ) This article lacks ISBNs for the books listed in it . Please make it easier to conduct research by listing ISBNs . If the ( ( Cite book ) ) or ( ( citation ) ) templates are in use , you may add ISBNs automatically , or discuss this issue on the talk page . ( February 2017 ) National Parks and Wildlife Service ( c. 1980 ) Wetlands Discovered . ( Available from Duchas , National Parks and Wildlife Service ) O'Gorman , F. ( 1979 ) The Irish Wildlife Book , Irish Wildlife Publications , Dublin . ( pages 58 -- 60 ) Praeger , R. Lloyd ( 1950 ) The Natural History of Ireland , Collins , Ireland . Webb , D.A. & Scannell , M. ( 1983 ) Flora of Connemara and the Burren . Royal Dublin Society , Cambridge . External links ( edit ) Turloughs Turloughs in general , Carran Turlough specifically by Darrell Watts ENFO : Ireland 's public environmental and sustainable development information service Flora of the turloughs Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Turlough_(lake)&oldid=822133566 '' Categories : Lakes of Ireland Karst formations Lakes Hidden categories : All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from January 2018 Articles with permanently dead external links Articles lacking in - text citations from February 2017 All articles lacking in - text citations EngvarB from October 2013 Use dmy dates from October 2013 Articles containing Latin - language text Articles lacking ISBNs Talk Contents About Wikipedia Asturianu Deutsch Español Gaeilge Norsk Norsk nynorsk Edit links This page was last edited on 24 January 2018 , at 16 : 03 . 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type of disappearing lake found in limestone areas in the west of ireland
This article includes a list of references , but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . ( February 2017 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) This article includes a list of references , but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . ( February 2017 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) A turlough , or turlach , is a type of disappearing lake found mostly in limestone areas of Ireland , west of the River Shannon . The name comes from the Irish tuar , meaning `` dry '' , with the suffix - lach , meaning `` a place '' ( in an abstract sense ) . The - lach suffix is often mistakenly spelled and / or thought to refer to the word loch , the Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Scots word for `` lake '' . The landforms are found in Irish karst ( exposed limestone ) areas . The features are almost unique to Ireland , although there is one example in Great Britain , at Cernydd Carmel near Llandeilo . They are of great interest to many scientists : geomorphologists are interested in how turloughs were formed , hydrologists try to explain what makes turloughs flood , botanists study the unusual vegetation which covers the turlough floor , and zoologists study the animals associated with the turloughs . Turloughs are mostly found on the central lowlands west of the Shannon , in counties Galway , Clare , Mayo , and Roscommon , although a few are also found elsewhere , e.g. in Limerick , Sligo , Longford , and Cork . Only three turloughs have been identified in Northern Ireland , namely Roosky , Green , and Fardrum Loughs located near Ely Lodge Forest in County Fermanagh . These constitute the most northerly turloughs in Ireland and have been collectively designated a Ramsar site and an Area of Special Scientific Interest . There is one turlough in South Wales , Pant y Llyn . Most turloughs flood in the autumn , usually sometime in October , and then dry up some time between April and July . However , some turloughs in the Burren can flood at any time of year in a matter of a few hours after heavy rainfall , and they may empty again a few days later . Some turloughs are affected by the oceanic tide : in the summer , Caherglassaun Lough , situated 5 kilometres from Galway Bay , can be seen to flood and empty again twice every 24 hours . Most turloughs flood to a depth of about 2 metres ( 6.6 ft ) but some are much deeper : for example , some of the turloughs near Gort reach about 5 metres ( 16 ft ) deep in midwinter . Turloughs are variable in size : the largest turlough in Ireland , Rahasane turlough , which lies to the west of Craughwell in County Galway , covers about 2.5 square kilometres ( 1 sq mi ) . All of the turloughs are found in limestone areas . This is because limestone can be dissolved away by rainwater , which becomes mildly acidic by picking up carbon dioxide as it passes through the atmosphere . The cracks or joints in the rock become widened to such an extent that eventually all of the rain falling on the limestone disappears underground , and the water moves through the rock openings ranging from cracks a few millimetres wide to large cave passages . The limestone is then said to be `` karstified '' . To the east of the Shannon , the limestone is often covered by great thicknesses of glacial drift deposited during the last glacial period , but in many areas to the west of the Shannon where the limestone is pure and the drift cover is thin , there is no proper surface river network . In these areas , rainfall disappears underground , flows through openings in the rock and then rises at distant springs : large springs can be found to the west of the area , flowing into Lough Corrib and Galway Bay . In winter , when the underground water level ( or water table ) rises , and when the underground flow increases , and when the underground flow routes to the springs are not capable of dealing with the amount of water entering them , groundwater may appear temporarily at the surface in the form of a turlough . Many of the rivers seen in these areas today are largely artificial , constructed by drainage engineers from the nineteenth century up to the present day , often linking a series of turloughs . For example , much of the River Clare is artificial , and the middle section of its course used to be a huge turlough , the largest in Ireland at 6.5 square kilometres ( 3 sq mi ) . Turloughs usually fill and empty at particular places on the floor of the depression ; sometimes an actual hole or passage is visible but more often a hollow with stones in the bottom is all that can be seen , and it may not be easy to recognise when it is dry in midsummer . Some turloughs have a spring at one place and a sinkhole ( also known as a `` swallet '' ) somewhere else on the floor where water drains away , but many turloughs fill and empty through the same hole . A few turloughs are filled by surface rivers and streams flowing into them as well as by water rising from underground . The water sinking in the swallow hole travels underground to re-emerge at a spring , which may be several kilometres away . In most rock types , groundwater flows very slowly ( from just a few centimetres to a few metres per day ) , but in karstified limestone the volumetric flow rate can be quite rapid : water from the turlough may flow underground to a spring at a rate of 100 metres per hour ( 330 ft / h ) or more . Limestone is made up of the mineral calcium carbonate , and as water passes through limestone , it dissolves the calcium carbonate ( this is what makes hard water and causes mineral deposits on the inside of kettles ) as the calcium carbonate comes out of solution when the water is heated . Something rather similar happens in turloughs ; water that has picked up a lot of calcium carbonate during its underground travel rises in the turloughs and then some of the calcium carbonate comes out of solution and forms a white deposit . If a turlough has emptied recently , a whitish coating on the vegetation on the turlough floor may be visible . When water comes to the surface in a turlough , it loses carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere and to plants , which use it for photosynthesis , and this loss causes a deposit of calcium carbonate on the surface . Sometimes a special whitish deposit with the appearance of sheets of paper is found in the turloughs when they dry up . This `` algal paper '' is made up of filaments of an alga that grows abundantly in warm weather and is then left to dry out in sheets when the turlough empties . In drainage ditches in a turlough , or in holes made with a soil auger , one may find a white - or cream - coloured deposit beneath the vegetation cover , or beneath a layer of peat . This is often called `` white marl '' ; again , it is made of calcium carbonate . About half of the turloughs contain marl ; it was deposited at a time several thousand years ago when these turloughs were not seasonal lakes but were flooded all year round . Most turloughs have a springy , short - cropped turf of grasses , sedges , and herbs . In the Burren , the high - water mark is often shown by the shrubby cinquefoil ( Dasiphora fruticosa ) with its attractive yellow flowers , and meadow rue . Just below the high - water mark , dog violets are abundant and in some turloughs there may be a dense sward of the rare sky - blue turlough violet about one metre further down . Other characteristic plants of turlough sides include marsh orchids and speedwell . About halfway down the sides , and across the bottom of shallow turloughs , silverweed ( Argentina anserina ) may blanket almost all other plants . If the turlough has a marshy zone near the swallow hole there may be mint , watercress , pondweeds , aquatic buttercups , and knotgrass living a semiterrestrial existence . But most swallow holes when dry are represented by a jumble of rocks , clothed with blackish and dried aquatic mosses ( Cinclidotus , the turlough moss , and Fontinalis , usually found in streams ) . Many people think that turloughs have no animal life . However , frogs and newts may spawn there , and sticklebacks may survive in the larger turloughs , retreating into underground cracks in the rock when waters are low . Shrimps and water lice do the same , and where fish are absent there may be a rich fauna of delicate water fleas and fairy shrimps , some unknown elsewhere in Ireland . These hatch and grow fast , finding safety in the warm fish - free waters . Flatworms and snails are also often abundant ; these pass the dry periods in spring mouths or marshy areas . Rahasane turlough in Galway has been described as the most important turlough in Ireland for birdlife . It is famous for its greater white - fronted geese , whooper swans , wigeon , teal , and many waders in winter . Both Rahasane turlough and Coole Park are Important Bird Areas . Turloughs provide good summer grazing for cattle , sheep and horses , partly because of the annual deposition of lime - rich silt . However , for many years , farmers have seen the winter flooding as a waste of potential and they have attempted to find some means of draining the turloughs so that they can be used all year round . This has usually been achieved by digging an artificial channel through the turlough , capable of carrying away any water entering the turlough from surface or groundwater -- such channels have often been constructed as part of major arterial drainage schemes . At least a third of the turloughs in Ireland have already been drained and more are being drained each year . This has very serious environmental consequences , because the unique flora and fauna of the turlough can not survive in the absence of seasonal flooding . Even for farmers , the benefits are not always as great as anticipated ; the stopping of the annual limy silt deposition means that the soil may become impoverished and fertilisers must be used . Also , the poorly developed and delicate soil may not be able to withstand the presence of animals through the winter .
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