Geology guides for Scotland?
John Graham
Hello,
I will be doing some hill walking in Scotland in November.
On the murky days when the hill walking is not a good
idea I want to look at the local Geology. Can anyone
tell me if there are good local guides for Geology trails
in Scotland.
Thanks
John
Phil Ingham
In article <53de8v$b...@pheidippides.axion.bt.co.uk>, John Graham
<jgr...@srd.bt.co.uk> writes
Geology Trail by John L Roberts (Highlan Press 01463 224444). It covers
the areas Inverness, John O' Groats, Cape Wrath, Assynt, Ullapool,
Gairloch, Torridon, Skye, Fort William, Oban and Knapdale.
--
Phil
Duncan H B Irving
John Graham wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I will be doing some hill walking in Scotland in November.
> On the murky days when the hill walking is not a good
> idea I want to look at the local Geology. Can anyone
> tell me if there are good local guides for Geology trails
> in Scotland.
>
>
> John
There is a guide titled "The Highland Geology Trail" which, if I remember
correctly, covers the West Coast from Cape Wrath to Arrochar. I think it
is no longer in print; Mine was bought on remainder for two quid last
year- try phoning either the BGS in Edinburgh on 0131 668 1000 (I think)
or James Thin's at the King's Buildings campus in Edinburgh, both of whom
stocked it at the time. I would be of more help but I lent my copy to
someone and I can't remember who...
All the best
Duncan
p.s. try posting on uk.rec.climbing/walking as well, there's the odd
(very odd) geologist knocking about there too.
--
Duncan Irving
Alpine and Periglacial Processes
Earth Sciences
UWC Cardiff & ETH Zurich
Earth Sciences Branch
>
>I will be doing some hill walking in Scotland in November.
>On the murky days when the hill walking is not a good
>idea I want to look at the local Geology. Can anyone
>tell me if there are good local guides for Geology trails
>in Scotland.
>
>Thanks
>
>
>John
There are lots of excursion guides available. However, how much value
they would be rather depends where you are going and what your level of
understanding is. Unfortunately, most are not written with the "general
public" in mind.
The following list contains guides that require some knowledge of the
subject:
Excursion Guide to the Moine Geology of the Scottish Highlands. eds
Alison, May and Strachan. Edin. Geol Soc.
The late Precambrian geology of the Scottish Highlands & Islands. 1991.
Geologists' Association, London.
MacGregor's and Phemmister's Geological Excursion Guide to the Assynt
District of Sutherland. Johnson & Parsons. Edin. Geol. Soc.
An excursion guide to the Geology of the Isle of Skye. Bell & Harris.
Geol. Soc of Glasgow.
Geological Excursion Guide to Glasgow & Girvan area.
Scottish Borders Geology An Excursion Guide. 1993. McAdam, Clarkson &
Stone. Scottish Academic Press.
Lothian Geology An Excursion Guide. 1986. McAdam & Clarkson. Scottish
Academic Press.
To obtain any of the above, try contacting the bookshop at British
Geological Survey, either in Keyworth or Edinburgh.
For information that is slightly more accessible, SNH, together with
BGS, publish a series of booklets called "Landscape Fashioned by
Geology". These explain the geology of certain parts of Scotland, using
the landscape as a hook. They are colourful and relatively cheap,
ranging somewhere between two and three pounds (sterling).
So far in the series we have published booklets covering:
Skye, Loch Lomond to Stirling, Edinburgh, Cairngorms, and Orkney and
Shetland. With more coming soon.
These, again, are available from BGS (Keyworth & Edinburgh) and from the
Publications Section, Scottish Natural Heritage, Battleby, Redgorton,
Perth. PH1 3EW.
Hope you have a good trip to Scotland and the weather stays fine!
Robert Threadgould
Earth Sciences Branch
Research and Advisory Services Directorate
Scottish Natural Heritage, 2 Anderson Place, Edinburgh EH6 5NP, UK
Tel: 0131 446 2453; Fax: 0131 446 2405; email: e...@rasdsnh.demon.co.uk
All views expressed are my own and not those of Scottish Natural Heritage.
Graham Budd
John Graham wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I will be doing some hill walking in Scotland in November.
> On the murky days when the hill walking is not a good
> idea I want to look at the local Geology. Can anyone
> tell me if there are good local guides for Geology trails
> in Scotland.
The new editions of the British Geological Survey's Regional Geology
guides are probably the best introduction to the geology: they're
divided into the Northern Highlands, (everything NW of Loch Ness, except
Skye and the other Western islands (but including Lewis and Harris); the
Tertiary Volcanic Districts (Skye, Rum etc); the Grampian Highlands
(mainland SE of Loch Ness down to a SW-NE line from Arran up to about
Aberdeen); the Midland Valley (SE of this, down to a parallel line
cutting the coast just east of Edinburgh) and the South of Scotland
(everything else). Oh, there's also one for Shetland and Orkney (the
geology of Shetland is fantastic by the way, if you can get there!).
These could be available in good bookshops (if you feel like zooming up
the A45 to Cambridge, Heffers stock them, for example)
If you are going to the Northern Highlands, then there is a really good
'Motor trail' of the Assynt District, which has photographs of lots of
important sites including the Moine Thrust, the contact between the
Lewisian and Torridonian, the Lower Cambrian succession, and so on.
It's by D. R. Shelley, and is published by the Sutherland tourist Board
(available at the tourist geology at Knockan Cliff, which has its own
trail and is well worth a visit).
Other guides: the Edinburgh and Glasgow geological societies have
published a number of guides, including:
Lothian geology: an excursion guide
[3rd ed.]/ edited by A.D. McAdam, E.N.K. Clarkson
Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986
and Scottish Borders geology: an excursion guide/ edited by
A.D. McAdam, E.N.K. Clarkson, P. Stone
Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1992
and An Excursion guide to the Moine geology of the Scottish
Highlands/ edited by I. Allison, F. May and R.A.
Strachan
Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press on behalf of the
Edinburgh Geological Society and the Geological Society
of Glasgow, 1988.
try also:
Geology and scenery in Scotland/ J.B. Whittow
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977
Finally, (as a plug for my Dear Old external examiner), you might try:)
The hidden landscape: a journey into the geological
past
Richard Fortey
London: Pimlico, 1994
Hope that's some help!
Graham Budd
(p.s. why live in Ipswich when the delights of Colchester are only just
down the road??)