On the Newer Red Sandstone, and on some other Geological Phenomena, near Loch Greinord, in Ross-shire

Abstract

In several passages of his work on the Western Isles, Dr. Macculloch refers to the occurrence on the shores of Loch Greinord of two small spots of a red sandstone of newer age than the great mass of similarly coloured rock which forms so conspicuous a feature on the western coasts of the Highlands. In his memoir on the Geological Map of Scotland he also several times mentions this formation, which he considered as the only undoubted instance of the occurrence of the “Red Marl” of English geologists in the northern part of the island. Although evidently regarding these beds with much interest, he has not given any detailed description of them. In their valuable memoir on the formations in the North of Scotland, Professor Sedgwick and Sir Roderick I. Murchison likewise mentioned this deposit, and pointed out its resemblance to the New Red of England, and also to some beds seen below the Lias in Skye. This sandstone does not seem to have been subsequently noticed by geologists, probably from lying in a region so seldom visited by the scientific traveller. I have therefore been induced to lay before the Society the following notes collected in an examination of this deposit in the autumn of last year (1856). The great headland of the Ruimore or Ru Rea that separates Loch Greinord from Loch Ewe consists chiefly of the older red sandstone of the west coast, covered more or less deeply by drift or detritus. On the shore of Lake