Proposed Development very near caves and rare turlough

[Clinton]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/437090340724443/?tsid=0.8808031683079468&source=result

 

[ChrisJC]

The irony.

Let's save a man made feature from man's activities.

Chris.

 

[Clinton]

True. But about 100 yards from the quarry are caves and the only turlough on the British mainland, 😊

 

[Clinton]

PUBLICITY! S4C, 7:30, Wednesday evening- the caves get a mention,

 

[crickleymal]

True. But about 100 yards from the quarry are caves and the only turlough on the British mainland, 😊

What's a turlough?

 

[AR]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turlough_(lake)

 

[Clinton]

A turlough is a limestone feature, a seasonal lake that has no feeder or outlet streams but instead relies on fluctuations of the water table. Sometimes they are full of water, sometimes they are dry. The one at Pant Llyn can cover a few acres and up to eight feet deep, sometimes a just a dry hollow. The name Pant Llyn translates to ?Lake Hollow?. They are very rare, a few in Ireland but the one at Pant Llyn is the only one on the British mainland. The development at Cilyrychen, a large disused limestone quarry, is very close, and with seven days a week heavy wagons in and out would undoubtedly pollute the water table,

 

[nickdegarepitt]

For anyone who is interested a few cavers have set up a group to assist the locals with info about the importance of the site to help their campaign to stop this development, it would be nice if other cavers or the Cambrian get involved

 

[AR]

I would suggest contacting the BCRA about this -  the current chairman, Prof. John Gunn, is an eminent Karst hydrologist and would be able to give informed comment about possible impacts of the proposed development on the turlough.

 

[Clinton]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-58586625

 

[Paul Marvin]

True. But about 100 yards from the quarry are caves and the only turlough on the British mainland, 😊

What's a turlough?

There are a few meanings as I was also baffled this one seems the most likely


Turloughs are temporary ponds on karstic limestone, filled from groundwater after rain and draining away again underground. The periodicity of inundation varies, providing an added stress to fauna and flora

 

[Speleofish]

Are they the same thing as poljes?

 

[Clinton]

Not certain but I think yes, in Ireland,

 

[Clinton]

(PDF) Poljes, Ponors and Their Catchments - ResearchGate
PDF | Poljes can be defined as depressions in limestone karst. ... A distinctive subtype of polje, the 'turlough', occurs in many formerly glaciated or ...

 

[Stuart France]

NRW are on the case, but the quarry in question is not an SSSI nor a Scheduled Monument so the constraints do not apply.

Interestingly there are historic references to some not-so-small caves within the 'landfill' quarry area on SWCC's website (see the scanned newsletters section) but I gather that these were destroyed by quarrying long ago.

 

[Clinton]

Ogof Cil yr Ychen was quarried away in the early 80?s. I remember Keith Jones saying it was a favourite cave of his, well decorated in places. For some time after there was speculation that some of the cave may have survived, but was  buried by large boulders.

 

[nickdegarepitt]

Is there any support the Cambrian can offer the locals, they seem to be getting well organised however having the support of the Cambrian will help with the campaign

 

[Clinton]

As well as Llandybie being the very birthplace of Welsh speleology (and the nearby caves and rare turlough), it also has another scientific claim to fame:

?Brammallite is a sodium rich analogue of illite. First described in 1943 for an occurrence in Llandybie, Carmarthenshire, Wales, it was named for British geologist and mineralogist Alfred Brammall. Believed to be a degradation product of paragonite, like illite it is a non-expanding, clay-sized, micaceous mineral.? Wikipedia.