Orkney and ShetlandHeddle, John George Flett Moodie
History
Orkney and Shetland
Heddle, John George Flett Moodie
Orkney (Scotland) -- Description and travel; Shetland (Scotland) -- Description and travel
The geological map shows that metamorphic rocks cover the greater
part of Shetland. These rocks are represented by the clayslates and
schists that extend from Fitful Head to the Mull of Eswick; and by
the gneiss found from Scalloway to Delting, and also on Burra Isle
and Trondra, Whalsay and Skerries, Yell, the west side of Unst and
of Fetlar, the east side of Northmavine, and the north sea-board of
the Sandness-Aithsting peninsula. Associated with the two series
of metamorphic rock are bands of quartzite; while at Fladdabister,
Tingwall, Whiteness, Weisdale, Northmavine and Unst are beds of
limestone.
The geological formation of Unst is interesting. The gneiss on the west
is succeeded by a band of mica, chlorite and graphite schists. Next
come zones of serpentine and gabbro, to be followed by schistose rocks
at Muness. Fetlar shows a similar formation.
Of the igneous rocks we may mention first the intrusive granites
of Northmavine, Muckle Roe, Vementry, Papa Stour, Melby and South
Sandsting. A bed of diorite extends from Ronas Voe to Olnafirth. Part
of Muckle Roe also shows diorite. Syenite occurs round Loch Spiggie
and is traced northward through Oxna and Hildasay to Bixter and Aith.
Lava, tuff, and other volcanic materials appear in various parts of
the islands, as between Stennis and Ockran Head, in Northmavine, Papa
Stour, the Holm of Melby, Vementry and Bressay.
The predominating sedimentary rocks in Shetland belong to the Old Red
Sandstone formation. These are found from Sumburgh Head to Rova Head,
and in Fair Isle, Mousa and Bressay. The fault or boundary line between
them and the metamorphic rocks is clearly traceable at various points
along the east of the Mainland. Foula, Sandness and Papa Stour, on the
west, show remnants of Old Red Sandstone. This formation is believed
to have once covered the whole area now represented by the Shetlands.
To the same geological period the hardened sandstone is considered to
belong, which occurs in the western peninsula, covering most of the
district of Sandness, Walls, Sandsting and Aithsting.
Glacial phenomena—striae, moraines, boulders—are interesting features
in the geology of Shetland. Over Unst, Fetlar, Yell and the north of
Mainland the movement of the ice had been uniformly from east to west.
Over the middle and southern districts, the glaciers had curved in a
north-westerly direction.
The variety of rocks accounts for the variety of soils in the islands.
There are many fertile regions of sandy and loamy soil. Perhaps the
best is the limestone district of Tingwall. Most of the county,
however, is covered with peat moss and peaty soil.
6. Natural History
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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