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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ben MacDui (talk | contribs) at 16:06, 18 August 2007 (→Important sites: Moine 1). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Important sites

  • Siccar Point, Berwickshire is world famous as one of the sites that proved Hutton's views about the immense age of the Earth. Here Silurian rocks have been tilted almost to the vertical. Younger Devonian rocks lie unconformably over the top of them, dipping gently, indicating that an enormous span of time must have passed between the creation of the two beds. Hutton's companion Playfair wrote:[1][2]

On us who saw these phenomenon for the first time the impression will not easily be forgotten...We felt necessarily carried back to a time when the schistus on which we stood was yet at the bottom of the sea, and when the sandstone before us was only beginning to be deposited, in the shape of sand or mud, from the waters of the supercontinent ocean... The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far back into the abyss of time; and whilst we listened with earnestness and admiration to the philosopher who was now unfolding to us the order and series of these wonderful events, we became sensible how much further reason may sometimes go than imagination may venture to follow.[3]

The Moine Thrust in Assynt is one of the most studied geological features in the world. Its discovery in 1907 was a milestone in the history of geology as it was the first thrust belt to be discovered.[4] Investigations by John Horne and Benjamin Peach resolved a dispute between Murchison and Geikie on the one hand and James Nicol ad Charles Lapworth on the other. The latter believed that older Moine rocks lay on top of younger Cambrian rocks at Knockan Crag, and Horne and Peach's work confirmed this in their classic paper The Geological Structure of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, which was published in 1907. A statue to these two pioneers of fieldwork was erected at Inchnadamph near the hotel there which played a prominent part in the annals of early geology.[5] Thsi sare is at the heart of the 'North West Highlands Geopark'.[6]


Gold mines etc Coal mines Gillen 86 Dob's Linn Glen Tilt Rhynie

Skye Cuillin - first studied extinct volcano

In the hills to the north of the village of Strontian the mineral strontianite was discovered, from which the element strontium was first isolated.[7][8] Inchnadamph Mckirdy p122

The island of Staffa contains Fingal's Cave made up of massive rectangular columns of basalt and Mackinnon's Cave, one of the longest sea caves in the world. [9]

ORS in conjunction with conglomerate formations such as the cliffside exposure at Fowlsheugh Nature Reserve, Aberdeenshire.

Lizzie, MckIrdie p 132

  • The Munro Schiehallion's isolated position and regular shape led Nevil Maskelyne to use the deflection caused by the mass of the mountain to estimate the mass of the earth in a ground-breaking experiment carried out in 1774. Following Maskelyne's survey, Schiehallion became the first mountain to be mapped using contour lines.

refs

  1. ^ McKirdy et al (2007) op cit page 253.
  2. ^ Gillen (2003) op cit page 95.
  3. ^ John Playfair. "Hutton's Unconformity" (html). Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. V, pt. III, 1805, quoted in Natural History, June 1999.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Butler was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ McKirdy et al (2007) op cit pages 110 and 121-122.
  6. ^ North West Highlands Geopark Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  7. ^ Undiscovered Scotland Retrieved 8 July 2007.
  8. ^ History and Minerals of Strontian mines Retrieved 8 July 2007.
  9. ^ Long Sea Caves of the World Retrieved 14 April 2007. Note however that the list only features entries from North America, Hawaii, and Europe.

MacCormick, Finbar and Buckland, Paul C. The Vertebrate Fauna in

Edwards, Kevin J. & Ralston, Ian B.M. (Eds) (2003) Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC - AD 1000. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press.

Carter, Stephen P. Land Snails in Edwards, Kevin J. & Ralston, Ian B.M. (Eds) (2003) Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC - AD 1000. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press. McK 1-84158-357-X Gilen 1-903544-09-2 ISBNs

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