Q 01/05

The Burren is a karst landscape centred in which part of Ireland?

A) County Galway

B) County Kerry

C) County Clare

D) County Mayo

Answer · why

C) County Clare

Geologically the limestone runs on into south Galway, and the village of Kinvara there is often counted in.

Q 02/05

What does the Irish name Boirinn, from which "Burren" comes, mean?

A) Grey plain

B) Land of caves

C) Fertile rock

D) Rocky district

Answer · why

D) Rocky district

The Cistercians who built Corcomroe Abbey there called it St Mary of the Fertile Rock, which is not the same thing.

Q 03/05

Roughly how large is the Burren, as measured within the circle made by Corofin, Gort, Kinvara and a fourth village?

A) About 530 square kilometres

B) About 150 square kilometres

C) About 1,200 square kilometres

D) About 2,000 square kilometres

Answer · why

A) About 530 square kilometres

Depending on the definition, estimates run from 250 square kilometres of bare pavement to 560 including the downland.

Q 04/05

Which island group in Galway Bay is a geological extension of the Burren's limestone hills?

A) The Blasket Islands

B) The Skelligs

C) Achill and Clare Island

D) The Aran Islands

Answer · why

D) The Aran Islands

Ferries to the islands leave from Doolin on the Burren's western edge.

Q 05/05

In which geological period did the Burren's limestone form as sediment in a tropical sea?

A) Carboniferous

B) Jurassic

C) Cretaceous

D) Devonian

Answer · why

A) Carboniferous

The rock is roughly 325 million years old and holds fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins and ammonites.