The Rhynie chert is an Early Devonian sedimentary deposit exhibiting extraordinary fossil detail or completeness. It is exposed near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; a second unit, the Windyfield chert, is located some 700 m away. The Rhynie chert contains exceptionally preserved plant, fungus, lichen and animal material preserved in place by an overlying volcanic deposit. The bulk of the fossil bed consists of primitive plants, along with arthropods, lichens, algae and fungi.
The Highland Boundary Fault is a major fault zone that traverses Scotland from Arran and Helensburgh on the west coast to Stonehaven in the east. It separates two distinctly different physiographic and geological terrains: the Highlands from the Lowlands, and in most places it is recognisable as a change in topography. Where rivers cross the fault, they often pass through gorges, and the associated waterfalls can be a barrier to salmon migration.
The Dalradian Supergroup is a stratigraphic unit in the lithostratigraphy of the Grampian Highlands of Scotland and in the north and west of Ireland. The diverse assemblage of rocks which constitute the supergroup extend across Scotland from Islay in the west to Fraserburgh in the east and are confined by the Great Glen Fault to the northwest and the Highland Boundary Fault to the southeast. Much of Shetland east of the Walls Boundary Fault is also formed from Dalradian rocks. Dalradian rocks extend across Ireland from the north of County Antrim, facing Scotland, southwest to Clifden on the Atlantic coast.
Skolithos is a common trace fossil ichnogenus that is, or was originally, an approximately vertical cylindrical burrow. They can reach lengths of up to about 35 cm (14") and diameters of up to about 5 cm (1.6").
The Argyll Group is a thick sequence of metamorphosed Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks that outcrop across the Central Highlands of Scotland, east of the Great Glen, as well as appearing in the north of Ireland. It is a subdivision of the Dalradian Supergroup and is itself divided into four units; from oldest to youngest these are the Islay, Easdale, Crinan and Tayvallich subgroups.
The Moine Supergroup is a sequence of Neoproterozoic metamorphic rocks that form the dominant outcrop of the Scottish Highlands between the Moine Thrust Belt to the northwest and the Great Glen Fault to the southeast. The sequence is metasedimentary in nature and was metamorphosed and deformed in a series of tectonic events during the Late Proterozoic and Early Paleozoic. It takes its name from A' Mhòine, a peat bog in northern Sutherland.
The Southern Uplands Fault is a fault in Scotland that runs from Girvan to Dunbar on the East coast. It marks the southern boundary of the Scottish Midland Valley and the northern margin of the Southern Uplands; indeed it is recognised as a boundary between these two terranes. Both sinistral and dextral strike-slip movement is recorded from parts of the fault as are down-north and down-south normal movements suggestive of a complex history.
The Hebridean Terrane is one of the terranes that form part of the Caledonian orogenic belt in northwest Scotland. Its boundary with the neighbouring Northern Highland Terrane is formed by the Moine Thrust Belt. The basement is formed by Archaean and Paleoproterozoic gneisses of the Lewisian complex, unconformably overlain by the Neoproterozoic Torridonian sediments, which in turn are unconformably overlain by a sequence of Cambro–Ordovician sediments. It formed part of the Laurentian foreland during the Caledonian continental collision.
The Great Estuarine Group is a sequence of rocks which outcrop around the coast of the West Highlands of Scotland. Laid down in the Hebrides Basin during the middle Jurassic, they are the rough time equivalent of the Inferior and Great Oolite Groups found in southern England.
The Fife Coalfield was one of the principal coalfields in Scotland. Over fifty collieries were in operation at various times between the middle of the nineteenth century and the closure of the last pit in 1988. The coalfield extended across the southern part of Fife where rocks of the Coal Measures Group occur and was one of a series of coalfields throughout the Midland Valley from which coal was won by both deep workings and opencasting methods. It is traditionally divided into the West Fife, Central Fife and East Fife coalfields with Kirkcaldy having been a particularly important area. Some of the mines extended beyond Fife under the Firth of Forth following the seams which occupy the Leven Syncline which extends to the south shore of the firth at Musselburgh and beyond.
The Grampian Group is an estimated 9,000 m thick sequence of metamorphosed Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks that outcrop across the Central Highlands of Scotland, east of the Great Glen. It forms a part of the Dalradian Supergroup. The sequence thickness at any one place is limited to 5km.
The Riccarton Group is a Silurian lithostratigraphic group in southern Scotland and northern England. The name is derived from Riccarton in the Edinburgh area. The rocks of the Riccarton Group have also previously been known as the Riccarton Formation and the Riccarton and Raeberry Castle Beds. The Group comprises around 500m thickness of greywackes, mudstones and siltstones which are faulted and folded.
The Gala Group is a Silurian lithostratigraphic group in the Southern Uplands of Scotland and northernmost England. The name is derived from Gala Water, a tributary of the River Tweed. The rocks of the Gala Group have also previously been known as the Queensberry Grits and the Strangford Group. Graded beds variously of wackestone, siltstone and mudstone are interpreted as turbidites and have been matched with the Central Belt turbidites which are seen in the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland. The strata are generally near-vertical and are bounded to the north by the Orlock Bridge Fault and to the south by the Laurieston Fault. Graptolites are found in a few beds.
The Stratheden Group is a Devonian lithostratigraphic group in southern Scotland and northernmost England. Occasionally pebbly, this red-brown and yellow sandstone dominated unit also contains siltstones and mudstones. It is encountered in Arran in the west and across the Midland Valley to the northeastern parts of Fife in the east. The name is derived from Stratheden in Fife. The rocks of the Stratheden Group have also previously been referred to as the Upper Old Red Sandstone. It unconformably overlies a variety of other rock sequences including the Strathmore Group around Dumbarton, Stirling and Arran and the Arbuthnott-Garvock Group in Fife and the Kinross area.
The Inverclyde Group is a Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group in southern Scotland and northernmost England. The name is derived from Inverclyde. The rocks of the Inverclyde Group have also previously been referred to as the Cementstone Group and Stirling Group. The group comprises sandstones with limestones and dolomites and some mudstone and lesser amounts of siltstone.
The Appin Group is a thick sequence of metamorphosed Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks that outcrop across the Central Highlands of Scotland, east of the Great Glen. It forms a part of the Dalradian Supergroup.
The Southern Highland Group is a sequence of metamorphosed Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks that outcrop across the Central Highlands of Scotland, east of the Great Glen. It forms the uppermost/youngest part of the Dalradian Supergroup and is divided into two formations. Volcanism is recorded by the Loch Avich Lavas Formation which divides the Loch Avich Grits Formation into lower and upper parts – the grits are turbidite and submarine fan deposits. In Perthshire and on Deeside, the Leny Limestone, which has been dated to 514 Ma, is present. A tillite, the Macduff Boulder Bed is known from the upper part of the group in northeast Scotland.
The Badenoch Group is a sequence of metamorphosed Tonian age sedimentary rocks that outcrop across the Central Highlands of Scotland, east of the Great Glen. This rock sequence has formerly been referred to as the Central Highland Migmatite Complex and the Central Highland Division.
The Rum layered intrusion is located in Scotland, on the Isle of Rum. It is a mass of intrusive rock, of mafic-ultramafic composition, the remains of the eroded, solidified magma chamber of an extinct volcano that was active during the Palaeogene Period. It is associated with the nearby Skye intrusion and Skye, Mull and Egg lavas. It was emplaced 60 million years ago above the Iceland hotspot.
