The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 1 (of 2)Geikie, Archibald
History
The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 1 (of 2)
Geikie, Archibald
Volcanoes -- Great Britain
In the order of succession which has been recognized during the
progress of the Geological Survey through the Central and Southern
Highlands, it is hard in many places to determine whether the sequence
that can be recognized is in an upward or downward direction. Two bands
of limestone, which appear to retain their relative positions across
Scotland for a distance of some 230 miles, may afford a solution of
this difficulty, and if, as is probable, they are to be identified with
the similar limestones of Donegal, Mayo and Galway, their assistance
will thus be available across a tract of more than 400 miles. What is
regarded as the lower zone of limestone is particularly well seen about
Loch Tay; what is believed to be the upper is typically displayed in
the heart of Perthshire, about Blair-Athol.
From under the Loch Tay Limestone a great thickness of mica-schists,
"green schists," schistose grits and conglomerates, slates and
greywackes, emerges up to the border of the Highlands. Above that
calcareous band thick masses of mica-schist and sericite-schist are
succeeded by a well-marked zone of quartzite, which forms the mountains
of Ben-y-Glo and Schihallion, and stretches south-westward across
Argyllshire into Islay and Jura. The second or Blair-Athol Limestone
lies next to this quartzite. If the limestones are identical with those
of Donegal, Mayo and Galway, the quartzites may doubtless be also
regarded as continued in those of the same Irish counties, where they
form some of the most conspicuous features in the scenery, since they
rise into such conspicuous mountains as Erigal, Slieve League, Nephin,
and the twelve Bins of Connemara.
The age of this vast system of altered rocks has still to be
determined. It is possible that they may include some parts of the
Torridonian series, or even here and there a wedge of the Lewisian
gneiss driven into position by gigantic disruptions, like those of
the North-West Highlands. But there can be no doubt that the schists,
quartzites and limestones form an assemblage of metamorphosed
sedimentary strata which differs much in variety of petrographical
character, as well as in thickness, from the Torridonian sandstone,
and which has not been identified as the equivalent of any known
Palæozoic system or group of formations in Britain. It may conceivably
embrace the Cambrian series of the North-West Highlands, and also the
sedimentary deposits that succeeded the Durness Limestone, of which no
recognizable vestige remains in Sutherland or Ross.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account