Slieve Anierin
| Slieve Anierin | |
|---|---|
| Sliabh an Iarainn | |
Slieve Anierin from Lough Allen.
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 585 m (1,919 ft) |
| Prominence | 245 m (804 ft) |
| Listing | Marilyn |
| Coordinates | 54°5′33.35″N 7°58′19.56″W / 54.0925972°N 7.9721000°WCoordinates: 54°5′33.35″N 7°58′19.56″W / 54.0925972°N 7.9721000°W |
| Naming | |
| Translation | Mountain of the iron (Irish) |
| Geography | |
 Slieve Anierin
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| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Hike |
Slieve Anierin (Irish: Sliabh an Iarainn, meaning "mountain of the iron") is a large hill in County Leitrim, Ireland. Slieve Anierin was shaped and evolved its present formation by ice age glaciers moving northeast to southwest over millions of years, the Morainic drift heaping up thousands of drumlins in the surrounding lowlands. It is a important natural heritage site containing exposed marine and coastal fauna. The mythological "Tuatha De Dannan" are strongly associated with Slieve Anierin.
The name Irish: Sliabh an Iarainn, meaning "mountain or moor of the Iron'", originates from an appreciation Iron ore deposits are present. Boate (1652) said "the mountains are so full of this metal, that hereof it hath got in Irish the name of Slew Neren, that is, Mountains of Iron". Historically, Sliabh an Iarainn was called "Sliabh Comaicne", “the mountain of Conmaicne Rein in Connacht".
Slieve Anierin is an important natural heritage site due to unbroken sequence of Carboniferous marine fossils present in the rock layers spanning the Namurian (326-315 million years ago) and lower Westphalian (313-304 million years ago) stages of the Silesian (series).
The Geological survey of Ireland (1878) wrote “the Geologist may examine all the formations of the district from the Lower Silurian up to the outlier of Coal-measures that crowns Slieve-an-Ierin… It is a rare thing in most countries to find so much comprised in so small a space”.
In her landmark study "The Palaeontology of the Namurian rocks of Slieve Anierin, County Leitrim, Eire", Patricia Yates (1962) demonstrated a "remarkable extent" of Namurian marine fauna bands, abundant with goniatite-Bivalvia, at Slieve Anierin. She described some rock layers as particularly fossiliferous, the shale bands abundant with goniatite faunas and Bivalvia marine and freshwater molluscs. The unfossiliferous shales often contain numerous clay-ironstone bands making conditions intolerable for marine organisms. At most of the fossiliferous levels in the Namurian beds the number of goniatites and Bivalvia are usually very high with the diversity of species low. The richest and most diverse band in the succession at Slieve Anierin, in terms of species present, contains Trilobites, brachiopods, gastropods, echinoids and Bryozoa. Fragments of trilobites occur abundantly at particular bands. Overall, Yates documented nearly 120 distinct fossiliferous sites around Slieve Anierin, her work complimented by extensive photographs of often beautifully preserved fossils. Her study of Slieve Anierin is considered so important, it is housed at the Murchison Museum, Imperial College, British Geological Survey Museum, and the Natural Museum in London.
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