Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T19:19:06.633Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Geological framework of the Inner Hebrides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

D. R. Bowes
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Get access

Synopsis

The geology of the Inner Hebrides covers the time span from ca 2900 m.y. (million years) ago to the present and is dominated by three major crustal regimes. The foreland of the Caledonides is represented by the metamorphic rocks of the Lewisian complex on Rona, Raasay, Coll and Tiree. It is separated by the Moine thrust from the ca 525–100 m.y. old Caledonian mountain chain which is represented by the sediments of the Dalradian Supergroup of Jura and much of Islay. The younger, ca 60 m.y. old, Hebridean Tertiary Igneous Province has major centres in Skye, Rhum and Mull and basaltic lava flows cover considerable areas. Other geological features include the Mesozoic sediments and the products of both the Quaternary glacial activity and present day sedimentation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderton, R., Bridges, P. H., Leeder, M. R. and Sellwood, B. W. 1979. A Dynamic Stratigraphy of the British Isles. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Bamford, D., Faber, S., Jacob, B., Kaminski, W., Nunn, K., Prodehl, C., Fuchs, K., King, R. and Willmore, P. 1976. A lithospheric seismic profile in Britain—I. Preliminary results. Geophys. J. Row Astr. Soc. 44, 145160.Google Scholar
Beenison, G. M. and Wright, A. E. 1969. The Geological History of the British Isles. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
Bowen, D. Q. 1977. Hot and cold climates in prehistoric Britain. Geol. Mag. 49, 685698.Google Scholar
Bowes, D. R. 1968. The absolute time scale and the subdivision of Precambrian rocks in Scotland. Geol. För. Stockh. Förh. 90, 175188.Google Scholar
Bowes, D. R. 1978. Shield formation in early Precambrian times: the Lewisian complex. In Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions, ed. Bowes, D. R. and Leake, B. E. Geol. J. Spec. Issue 10, 39–80.Google Scholar
Hailwood, E. A., Bock, W.. Costa, L., Dupeuble, P. A.. Müller, C. and Schnitker, D. 1979. Chronology and biostratigraphy of northeast Atlantic sediments, DSDP leg 48. In Init. Rep. Deep Sea Drilling Project, ed. Montadert, L. et al. 48, 11191141. Washington D.C.: U.S. Govt Printing Office.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1978. Crustal structure of the eastern North Atlantic seaboard. In Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions, ed. Bowes, D. R. and Leake, B. E. Geol. J. Spec. Issue 10, 23–38.Google Scholar
Longman, C. D., Bluck, B. J. and van Breemen, O. 1979. Ordovician conglomerates and the evolution of the Midland Valley. Nature. Lond. 280, 578581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naylor, D. and Shannon, P. M. 1982. Geology of Offshore Ireland and West Britain. London: Graham & Trotman.Google Scholar
Piasecki, M. A. J., van Breemen, O. and Wright, A. E. 1981. In Geology of the North Atlantic Borderlands, ed. Kerr, J. W. and Fergusson, A. J. Mem. Can. Soc. Petrol. Geol. 7, 57–94.Google Scholar
Piasecki, M. A. J., van Breemen, O. and Wright, A. E. 1982. Field and isotopic evidence for a c. 750 Ma tectonothermal event in Moine rocks in the Central Highland region of the Scottish Caledonides. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sci. 73, 119134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, J. B. and Bluck, B. J. 1982. Palaeodrainage of the southern margin of the Caledonian mountain chain in the northern British Isles. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sci. 73, 1115.Google Scholar
Stewart, A. D. 1982. Late Proterozoic rifting in NW Scotland: the genesis of the ‘Torridonian’. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 139, 415420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Breemen, O. and Bluck, B. J. 1981. Episodic granite plutonism in the Scottish Caledonides. Nature Lond. 291, 113117.Google Scholar
Vann, I. R. 1978. The siting of Tertiary vulcanicity. In Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions, ed. Bowes, D. R. and Leake, B. E. Geol. J. Spec. Issue 10, 393–414.Google Scholar