Wicklow Mountains

▪ mountains, Ireland

 extensive mountain range in County Wicklow, Ireland, forming part of the Leinster Chain. The mountain area comprises a vast anticline (upwarp of rock strata), with granite exposed at the centre, and also slates and sandstones. Igneous intrusions form the Little Sugar Loaf (1,123 ft [342 m]) and the Great Sugar Loaf (1,654 ft [504 m]). The main summits of the range rise over 2,000 ft and consist of smoothly rounded granite hills, but the highest, Lugnaquillia (3,039 ft [926 m]), is capped with hard mica-schist rocks. There are many fine valleys in the range, including Glenmacnass, Glendasan, Glendalough, Glencree, and those of the Avonmore, Avoca, Aughrim, and Liffey rivers.

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