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
We thus learn from the evidence of the Ayrshire sections that volcanic
action was in full vigour in the south-west of Scotland during the
Arenig period, but gradually died out before the end of the Llandeilo
period. The rocks in which this volcanic history is chronicled have
been very greatly disturbed and plicated, so that though from their
frequently vertical position they might be thought to attain a vast
depth, they very possibly do not exceed 500 feet in thickness.
As the volcanic series is followed north-eastwards it exhibits a
gradual diminution in extent and variety, but this may be at least
partly due to the much less depth of it exposed on the crests of the
narrow anticlines that bring it to the surface. There is evidence in
that region that the eruptions did not everywhere terminate in the
Llandeilo period, but were in some districts prolonged into the age
of the Bala rocks. Thus in the neighbourhood of Sanquhar volcanic
breccias, tuffs and lavas have been found by Messrs. Peach and Horne
intercalated in strata apparently belonging to the Bala group. Again,
in the district of Hartfell, a moderately coarse volcanic agglomerate
occurs in the heart of the so-called "barren mudstones" of the Hartfell
black-shale group, which, from its graptolites, is placed on the
horizon of the Bala rocks. At Winkstone, Hamilton Hill, and Wrae in
Peeblesshire, perlitic felsites and soda-felsites have been detected
by Messrs. Peach and Horne and determined by Mr. Teall. They are
associated with the Bala limestone, which in some of its conglomeratic
bands contains pebbles of felsite.
The intrusive rocks which accompany the Lower Silurian volcanic series
of the south of Scotland are best displayed in the south-west of
Ayrshire, between Girvan and Ballantrae, where they appear to be on the
whole later than at least the great mass of the interstratified lavas
and tuffs. The most abundant rocks and the earliest to be injected are
complex basic masses which include serpentine, olivine-enstatite rock,
troctolite, gabbro and other compounds, all which may be different
modifications of the same original basic magma. They do not show a
finer texture where they respectively meet, nor any other symptom
of having been subsequently intruded into each other, though they
do exhibit such structures along their lines of contact with the
surrounding rocks, into which they are intrusive. These more basic
masses have subsequently been invaded by irregular bosses and dyke-like
protrusions, which, when small, are fine-grained dolerites, but when in
larger bodies take the form of gabbro, sometimes exhibiting a mineral
banding and foliated structure. These banded varieties much resemble
the banded Tertiary gabbros of Skye and some parts of the Lewisian
gneiss.
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