The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 2 (of 2)Geikie, Archibald
Science
The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 2 (of 2)
Geikie, Archibald
Volcanoes -- Great Britain
In some instances the more basic rock has been first injected, and has
subsequently been disrupted, by the more acid pitchstone. In other
cases the order has been the reverse. The successive ruptures have
taken place sometimes along the centre, sometimes at the margins, and
sometimes irregularly along the breadth of the dykes. Professor Judd
has recently studied these rocks, and has given descriptions of their
chemical composition and microscopic characters. He regards them as
having been successively injected into the fissures from the same
subterranean reservoir, in which two magmas of very different chemical
constitution were simultaneously present.[200]
[Footnote 200: _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._ vol. xlix. (1893), p. 536.
Full details of the compound dykes of Tormore and Cir Mhor in Arran,
and references to previous writers will be found in this paper. The
probable age of the youngest eruptive rocks of this island will be
discussed in Chapter xlvii. p. 418.]
Nowhere in the Tertiary volcanic regions of Britain do compound dykes
appear to be so abundant as in the centre and southern part of the
island of Skye. During the progress of the Geological Survey in that
district, Mr. Clough and Mr. Harker have mapped a large number in the
ground between the Sound of Sleat and the Red Hills. With regard to
these dykes Mr. Harker observes that the several members are generally
petrographically different, some being basic, others intermediate,
and others acid. "There is usually," he remarks, "a symmetrical
disposition, two similar and more basic dykes being divided by a more
acid one; for example, two andesites separated by a pitchstone. Thus at
the mouth of the little stream which runs from Torran into the bay east
from Dùn Beag a dyke, apparently 18 feet wide, is found on examination
to consist of a central dyke (specific gravity 2·86) flanked by two
more basic dykes (specific gravity 3·02)."
In the great majority of examples hitherto observed in Skye the two
lateral dykes consist of some basic rock (diabase or basalt), while
the central and thickest band is of some acid material (granophyre or
quartz-felsite). This triple arrangement occurs both in dykes and sills.
[Illustration: Fig. 254.--Compound dyke, Market Stance, Broadford, Skye.
_a_, Granophyre; _b_ _b_, Basalt; _c_ _c_, Torridon sandstone.]
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