Survey Of Scotland Research Articles

A contribution to the study of some granites near Aberdeen

Introduction. The area to which the present paper refers is a tract of country, roughly triangular in shape, which lies between the rivers Dee and Don and extends inland for a distance of about twenty miles from the city of Aberdeen. It is shown on Sheets 76 and 77 of the 1-inch to the mile map of the Geological Survey of Scotland. Previous accounts of the geology of the district are few in number and somewhat general in character; a brief description is given in Sheet Memoir 76 of the Geological Survey of Scotland ; G. Barrow has described certain granitic intrusions on the southern margin (1),1 and W. Mackie has referred to heavy minerals from certain of the rocks; there are, moreover, a number of collections in the University of Aberdeen, and a summary of information regarding the intrusive history of the region is given by Hatch and Wells (10). The investigations carried out by the writer have been conducted at intervals over a number of years, and it is hoped that this account will arouse interest in an area which has not yet received the attention which it deserves, and clear the way for investigation by more detailed means. The elements which together form the geology of the area are, principally, a complex intrusion of irregular outline comprising diorites and hornblende-granites, porphyritic biotite-granite, and more acid muscovite-biotite-granite, together with a number of transition rocks and minor intrusions of variable composition which is referred to as the Skene Complex; and

The Ballantrae Igneous Complex, South Ayrshire

IN the early days of the Geological Survey of Scotland, the rocks of the Ballantrae Igneous Complex were thought to be of metamorphic origin. Thus in the memoir explanatory of sheet 7, scale 1 inch = 1 mile, published in 1869, it is stated that the chief interest attaching to the altered strata of this district consists in the fact that they exhibit certain arrested stages of metamorphic action. But less than ten years after that date the erroneous character of this opinion was made abundantly clear by Professor Bonney.Equipped with experience gleaned in the Lizard, Bonney quickly recognized in Ayrshire a correspondence in the nature of the phenomena. Excellent descriptions were furnished by him of some of the lavas, serpentines, and gabbros, and their true igneous character emphasized.

The Kainozoic Igneous Rocks of Kintyre

IN a previous paper I have described the igneous rocks of that part of Kintyre contained in Sheet 12 of the 1 in. maps of the Geological Survey of Scotland. The present work deals chiefly with the minor intrusions of the greater part of Kintyre N. of Sheet 12, and contained in Sheets 20, 21, 28, and 29.2

Chemical analyses of white trap from Dalmeny, Granton, Weak Law and North Berwick

Where intrusive picrites, basalts or dolerites are found in association with carbonaceous shales, they often appear in the modified form of a yellowish or nearly white rock called ‶white trap.″ Many instances occur in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and in the Memoir of the Geological Survey of Scotland, for the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, 1910, pp. 311 to 314, there is a statement concerning white traps by Dr J. S. Flett in which he publishes a chemical analysis of the teschenite of Mons Hill, and compares it with an analysis of white trap from Newhalls by Dr E. Stecher, who had made a special study of the same. The results of this analysis are discussed, and it is mentioned that the examination of microsections of white trap from various sources afford confirmative evidence to the conclusions arrived at. It appears from the above Memoir that white traps, when they first consolidated at their contact with carbonaceous shales, did so as a normal facies of the dolerite, and that they owe their present appearance to the action of carbonic anhydride and water rising through the intrusive rocks, at their margins, during cooling and at comparatively low temperatures. The subject was of sufficient interest to induce me to undertake the analyses of specimens of white trap from various sources. In each case a microsection was cut from the specimen, a chemical analysis made, and the specific gravity determined. No. 1 is from the well-known exposure on the shore at Dalmeny about half-way between

Obituary notices of fellows deceased

With the death of Dr. John Horne on May 30, 1928, one of the most distinguished and certainly the most beloved of Scottish geologists of the last generation, has passed to Ins rest. Horne had reached the ripe age of 80 years, having been born in the Stirlingshire village of Campsie on the first day of January, 1848. He was educated at the High school of Glasgow and subse­quently attended classes at the University. He did not graduate, and it was not infrequently the case that students at that time did not go up for a degree. Both Archibald Geikie and James Geikie studied at Edinburgh University but neither of them sat for degree examinations. Probably the reason was partly that boys of strong individual bent took a variety of classes that were outside the ordinary curriculum. Already at the age of 19 Horne bad developed an interest in geological work and was accepted as a recruit for the Geological Survey of Scotland in 1867. Appointment in those days was largely a matter of recommendation and personal selection, and the appointment in this case was amply justified. The Scottish Survey staff at that time included in its members, Archibald Geikie, dames Geikie, and Benjamin Peach, and they were at work mostly in Fifeshire, Ayrshire and Dumfries-shire. Horne spent a considerable time on the Silurian rocks of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, a series which was then little understood, but which he was to revise at a subsequent date in a piece of work that was one of the greatest achievements of his scientific career.

Obituaries

THOMAS OWEN BOSWORTH, who died in London on Jan. 18 last, was born at Spratton, Northamptonshire, on Mar. 28, 1882. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, and was on the staff of the Geological Survey of Scotland in the years 1908 and 1909. The remainder of his life was mainly spent abroad as an oilfield geologist. In this capacity he travelled extensively in America, ranging from Peru to within the Arctic circle. His published works include “The Keuper Marls around Charnwood” (Leicester, 1912), “Geology of the Mid Continent Oilfields, Kansas, Oklahoma, and North Texas” (New York, 1920), “Geology of the Tertiary and Quaternary Periods in the North-West Part of Peru” (London, 1922), and several papers in the Geological Magazine. In the work on Peru, Bos-worth gives a fascinating account of the later geological history of the region, and his description of the present conditions and processes in the desert is full of interest to both geologists and geographers. By his death at the early age of forty-six years, geology has lost a very able investigator.

The Glacial and Recent Drainage of the Lintrathen Area

Our knowledge of the geology of the district fringing the Grampians in Perthshire and Angus has been limited in the main to the published 1 inch maps of H.M. Geological Survey of Scotland (Sheets 48 and 56 in particular). A few papers in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society about the middle of the last century deal with certain exposures of special interest. The writer of the present contribution has conducted recently a detailed investigation of the area between Dunkeld and Fern, and an account of the solid geology has been published. The glacial geology presents no less interesting material or problems and, while the major portion of the results is being held over until further field-work is undertaken, one aspect, and over a limited area, will be considered here.

III.—The Geology of the Highland Border from Tayside to Noranside

The area examined in the course of this investigation comprises parts of Perthshire and Forfarshire fringing the Grampians and Strathmore from Stenton on the Tay, 2½ miles east of Dunkeld, to Auchnacree, a mile north-east of Noran Water, an easterly tributary of the South Esk. It is represented on a scale of 1 inch to a mile on Sheets 48, 56, and 57 of the Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The field mapping of over 130 square miles was carried out on a scale of 6 inches to a mile, and the results are embodied in the appended map on a scale of 1 inch to a mile.

X. Contribution to the Petrography of the Late-Palaeozoic Igneous Suite of the West of Scotland

Introduction. It is intended in the present paper to give a more detailed description of the lavas and tuffs, and of the vent intrusions, of the Late-Palaeozoic in Ayrshire, than was possible in an earlier publication (1912).1 Field work and collecting has been carried on at intervals since 1909, but no attempt has been made at a complete survey, which is beyond the scope of a single individual, and is now, moreover, in the capable hands of the officers of the Geological Survey of Scotland (1922-26). Hence the notes as to field occurrences, geological features, etc. make no pretence to completeness. The petrography, however, has been done in more detail, and is based on the study of 215 thin sections in the collection of the Geological Department of Glasgow University, and of four new chemical analyses by Mr. W. H. Herdsman. These analyses have been made possible by the Carnegie Trustees for the Universities of Scotland, to whom grateful acknowledgement is due for their generosity in providing a grant. To the late Sir A. Geikie belongs the credit for establishing the existence of this Late-Palaeozoic volcanic field in the West of Scotland.2 In his Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, he gave a very full description of the geology of the field,3 and Dr. F. H. Hatch provided a brief note on the petrographical characters of the rocks.4 In the same place Prof. W. W. Watts gave a short description of the contents of the vents, including the carbonated peridotite fragments This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

I.—The Glacial Geology of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, West of Annandale and Upper Clydesdale

The present paper embodies the results of an investigation into the glacial phenomena of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, west of Annandale and Upper Clydesdale.The literature dealing with the glaciation of this extensive region is very meagre. Apart from the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Scotland, only a few and scattered papers and occasional references bear upon the subject. These will be noted in the course of the paper as occasion arises.

Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Scotland. The Geology of the Glasgow District. Second Edition. Revised by M. Macgregor, M.A., B.Sc., C. H. Dinham, B.A., E. B. Bailey, M.C., B.A., and E. M. Anderson, M.A., B.Sc. pp. xi + 299, with 30 text-figures and 1 folding plate. 1925.

Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Scotland. The Geology of the Glasgow District. Second Edition. Revised by M. Macgregor, M.A., B.Sc., C. H. Dinham, B.A., E. B. Bailey, M.C., B.A., and E. M. Anderson, M.A., B.Sc. pp. xi + 299, with 30 text-figures and 1 folding plate. 1925.

The Geological Structure of Ben Lawers and Meall Corranaich, (Perthshire)

The present paper may be said to deal in particular with Ben Lawers and Meall Corranaich, and in general with the whole of the Ben-Lawers range lying between the Bridge-of-Balgie Fault on the east, and the Loch-Tay Fault on the west; for, while the structures seen on those two mountains are undoubtedly typical, certain features there observed only attain their full significance when viewed in the light of what is seen elsewhere on the range. The area is one of considerable relief, the range reaching its highest elevation in Ben Lawers (3984 feet), and having many summits above the 3000-foot level: it is deeply dissected by several glens, such as Glen Lochay, the Pass over to Glen Lyon west of Beinn Ghlas (Lochan-na-Larig Pass), and those occupied by the Allt Tuim Bhric (Carie Burn), and the Lawers Burn, on the south side; while on the north side of the range there are the Gleann Allt Da Eig and the Gleann Allt Chobhair. The district was first surveyed by J. S. Grant Wilson, and his results, published on the 1-inch maps of the Geological Survey of Scotland (Sheets 46 & 47), afford much food for thought to later workers, who must always be grateful to these pioneers in mapping. No official description has, however, appeared, although we have been told by M. Macgregor that ‘it has long attracted the attention of geologists from its apparently obvious synclinal structure and from the possibility of its furnishing a clue to the structure of

Ordnance Survey of Scotland, "Popular" Edition. One-Inch Map

Ordnance Survey of Scotland, "Popular" Edition. One-Inch Map

Petrological notes on the Houston Marl

In the autumn of 1921 my friend, Mr Cadell of Grange, sent me some specimens of Houston Marl, with the request that I would examine them with especial reference to the possibilities of finding some economic use for the rock. The main object he had in view has not been realised, but some facts have been brought to light which seem worthy of record. The following notes are based on specimens from a burn one quarter of a mile west of Ecclesmachan; from West Binney, one and a half miles west of Ecclesmachan; and from a locality, probably near Ecclesmachan, the exact position of which cannot be fixed; others were obtained from the Geological Survey of Scotland, through Mr D. Tait, from two bores near Blackness—those from No. 1 bore came from depths of 221 feet 6 inches and 240 feet, and those from No. 2 bore from 744 feet. The specimens from surface out-crops have naturally been affected by the weather; they break up readily into small angular fragments, and joint planes are often coated with a dark brown film of oxide of iron, with which some manganese is probably associated. One of the specimens from West Binney showed traces of “ ball-jointing,” a common feature of the Keuper marls of the Midland counties of England. With the exception of a reddish-brown marl “ interstratified with green marl ” in the Ecclesmachan burn, all the specimens have a greenish tinge, varying from very dark, in those from the bores,

Ordnance survey of Scotland, “popular” edition

Ordnance survey of Scotland, “popular” edition

Calendar of Scientific Pioneers

December 15, 1890. James Croll died.—Known for his writings on physical geology, such as his “Climate and Time,” 1875, Croll was successively a joiner, an insurance agent, an assistant at the Andersonian College, Glasgow, and keeper of maps in the Geological Survey of Scotland.

Description of Arthur's Seat Volcano. By B. N. Peach, LL.D., F.R.S. Second Edition. Mem. Geol. Survey of Scotland. pp. 26, with a coloured map and 4 figures. 1921. Price2s. 6d. net.

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Robert Etheridge

MR. ROBERT ETHERIDGE, director of the Australian Museum, Sydney, died on January 4 last at the age of seventy-three years. He was active almost until the end, still occupied with research, and his decease is a serious loss to Australasian science. The only son of the late Mr. Robert Etheridge, palæontologist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain, and afterwards assistant-keeper of the geological department of the British Museum, Etheridge adopted the profession of his father, and made many important contributions to our knowledge of the fossils of both Australasia and Britain. Beginning his career on the first geological survey of Victoria, Australia, he returned in the early 'seventies to become paleontologist to the Geological Survey of Scotland, where he not only did important official work, but also1 co-operated with the late Prof. H. A. Nicholson in describing the Silurian fossils of Girvan, Ayrshire. From 1878 until 1887 he was assistant in the geological department of the British Museum, where he joined the late P. Herbert Carpenter in the authorship of the “Catalogue of the Blastoidea,” which still remains the standard work on these fossils.

Marginal intrusive phenomena near Linlithgow, and at Auchinoon

About 1½ miles south of Linlithgow, at Hillhouse Quarry, is an exposure of the Hurlet limestone. The section, with its associated igneous rocks, has been fully described by Mr Grabham in the Memoir of the Geological Survey of Scotland , Neighbourhood of Edinburgh, 1910, p. 282. He regards the columnar olivine basalt, which occurs above the shales, as intrusive since it transgresses, to a considerable extent, the sedimentary strata. An examination of these strata, where seen beneath the basalt, does not disclose any special appearance of contact alteration, nor did I find any indication of a welded junction. In one spot, where the sedimentary strata had become detached from the overhanging floor of the basalt, the separation was clean and even. The dyke of white trap, which cuts through the strata at a small fault, has altered considerably the sandy limestones through which it passes, having marmorised them in many places. It has been suggested by Mr Grabham that this dyke of white trap may have been a feeder for the basalt above. If this is true it is curious that there should be so much contrast in the amount of contact alteration produced by the two kinds of igneous rock. I have noticed, in this district, that where the quartz dolerite intrusions came in contact with carbonaceous shales, the conversion of the dolerite into white trap is hardly perceptible. This is very well seen in the quarries at Kettlestoun and Peace Knowe, and at Binny Craig. At Cockelrue I examined

A boulder containing ammonites from Dunbeath, Caithness

The occurrence of Jurassic and Cretaceous boulders in the boulder-clay of Caithness is sufficiently well established, and the gigantic erratic that is quarried in the sand-pits at Leavad has been described in the Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society (vol. ix. p. 318), by Mr D. Tait, and in the Geological Survey Memoir on Caithness. Recently, when excavations were going on in course of making a footpath at Dunbeath, fragments of a sandstone containing fossils were observed by Mr Richard Small, who brought them to my notice. The mass appeared to be solid rock, but is probably nothing but a very large boulder on which a dwelling-house and bakehouse are built. The dimensions of the rock cannot be less than 20 feet by 20 feet by 8 feet, and may be considerably greater. This part of Caithness consists of bluish and grey flagstones belonging to the Middle Old Sandstone, whereas the fossiliferous rock in question is a red or dark brown, soft, iron-stained sandstone, not very distinctly bedded. Fossils are not very abundant in it, but several of the fragments broken from the mass showed impressions of a whorled shell easily recognisable as belonging to the Ammonite group. The specimens were forwarded to Dr G. W. Lee of the Geological Survey of Scotland, who has kindly furnished the note appended. From his determination it seems that the rock is of Kimmeridge age. It may have come from the coast of Sutherlandshire, or may possibly represent a mass of Jurassic rocks