Landscapes in Stone
2 total works
The Isle of Arran dominates the Firth of Clyde. A favourite haunt of holidaymakers, it is also a place of fascination for the geologist, offering a huge variety of rocks that represent a massive slice through geological time. From the ancient bent and buckled strata of Dalradian - a small fragment of the roots of the once mighty Scottish Highlands - the dramatic Northern mountains through which ice gouged its way during the Ice Age, to the relatively recent (some 60 million years ago!) rocks associated with the Arran volcano, the geological record tells an amazing tale. This book is a fascinating introduction to the landscape of Arran - one of the significant geological areas of the country.
The Isle of Skye offers a magical combination of wild land and breath-taking natural beauty. Skye's geological history involves some of the most ancient rocks on the planet; a grandstand view as the Highlands of Scotland were formed over 400 million years ago and the development of one of the mightiest volcanoes ever to blow its top. Skye is also known as Scotland's 'dinosaur island', yielding the remains of many species of plant and meat-eating creatures that stalked land some 140 million years ago. Finally, the rocks forged in earlier times were shaped into the familiar hills and glens of today by the passage of ice as a great freeze gripped the land. This book provides key information about the formation of the island and the on-going processes of natural landscape evolution that continue to leave their mark on these spectacular vistas.