West is Best ERRATIx OPEN UNIVERSITY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ~ WEST OF BRANCH ~ NEWSLETTER ~ DEC 2008

Branch Organiser: Treasurer: Jacqueline Wiles AGM & Burns Supper Hammy Corrance 21 Wedderburn Road th th 36 Bensley Avenue Dunblane 16 – 18 January 2009 Girdle Toll Stirling Pitlochry Youth Hostel Ayrshire KA11 1AJ FK15 0FN Come along and join in the fun!! 01294 212801 01786 820127 Overnights are optional, AGM is free Branch Web Site: [email protected] Contact Jacqueline Wiles www.ougs-wb.org.uk Application form at the end of September Newsletter

BRANCH ORGANISER’S BULLETIN Hello Everyone, It is now the time of the year when the days are short, and we have to think back over this year’s trips and look forward to new ones next year. Our last outing of the year was the post-exam weekend to Oban and our thanks go to Dr Roger Anderton, who is an expert in this area, for making the weekend so interesting and enjoyable. Thanks also to Stuart for his organizing – even the weather was not too bad and on Sunday we were able to sit on the beach in sunshine for lunch on Mull, looking across the water to Duart Castle – perfect. The next main Branch event is the AGM and Burns Supper being held in Pitlochry Youth Hostel in January. I do have some bookings for this but if you are intending to come, please send the booking form in NOW, as we need to pay for the hostel in December. This is always a very enjoyable weekend, so try to come along and support the Branch – you will be very welcome and not be pressed into joining the committee. For our week-long field trip next year we are hoping to go to Skye in early May – see advert. This is being led by Dr Iain Allison of Glasgow University and places will be limited, so book early if you want to come along. The Branch has recently purchased a GPS which we hope will be put to good use in the field. Once outcrops are accurately marked it should be easy for anyone using the trip account to find what they are looking for. We have also bought ‘The Geology of Scotland’ edited by Nigel Trewin and some geological maps to be added to the Branch library – all available to be borrowed at any time. The Society AGM and dinner dance is being held in Derby on the 25th April. It is not a very easy place to get to from Scotland, but if there are enough people wanting to go it could be possible to go down as a group, so please get in touch if you are thinking of attending. Good luck to those of you who are waiting for exam results and I hope that you will all have a good time over the festive period, doing what you enjoy. Looking forward to seeing you in Pitlochry. Best wishes, Jacqueline.

And from your Editor...... of Scotland, Bute and Oban – all well attended Hi folks, and very enjoyable. Next year we hope to go to The festive season is rolling in again at the end of St Andrew’s with Dr Andrew McLeish in April a really good year. We had four interesting and and to ‘the other end of the Moine Thrust’ on successful trips – to St Monan’s, the North coast Skye, with Dr Iain Allison in May, and no doubt there will be others. The AGM and Burns Supper Library Materials, newly updated, and I would is in January, and I can only repeat Jacqueline’s like to encourage everyone to make use of these. plea that you return your booking form soon, as I hope you all have a great time in next few weeks we have to pay for the hostel and need to know and that Santa brings you all that you have asked numbers!! The form is at the end of September’s for!! Newsletter as well as this electronic one, so it’s really easy!! I have also included the list of our Merry Christmas! Margaret.

FUTURE EVENTS Talks…………. Date Organisation Details Time Location Jan 8 Geological Society ‘Stone Voices’: Geodiversity, Geopoetics and 7.30 pm Gregory Building, Lilybank 2009 of Glasgow Reading the Landscape, Prof John Gordon, SNH. Gardens, Glasgow University Jan 14 Edinburgh Enlisting geology in fighting disease and 7.30 pm See below Geological Society. organised crime, Dr Ed Stephens, St Andrew’s University. Jan 21 The Geological Foundations of Scotland’s Stone- 7.15 pm See below Geological Society Built Heritage, Dr Andrew McMillan, BGS. Jan 28 Edinburgh Towards Deep Geological Disposal of UK 7.30 pm See below Geological Society. Radioactive Waste, Professor Simon Harley, University of Edinburgh. Feb 12 Geological Society Neoproterozoic Earth history as written in the 7.30 pm Gregory Building, Lilybank of Glasgow Scottish-Irish Highlands, Dr Tony Prave, Gardens, Glasgow University University of St Andrews. Mar 12* Geological Society Rocks, landscape and man – reading the 7.30 pm Gregory Building, Lilybank of Glasgow geological history of Mid-, Dr Roger Gardens, Glasgow University Anderton, RA Geo Consulting. Apr 9* Geological Society What can we learn about bedrock rivers from 7.30 pm Gregory Building, Lilybank of Glasgow Scotland’s glacial rebound? Professor Paul Gardens, Glasgow University Bishop, University of Glasgow. *Please note – the dates of these two lectures have been swapped round since the Sept Newsletter.

………..and Trips

Date Location Details Organisation Contact Jan 16 – 18 Pitlochry AGM & Burns Supper WSc, ESc Jacqueline Wiles 2009 April St Andrew’s Day Trip to St Andrew’s in Fife with Dr Andrew McLeish WSc Jacqueline Wiles May 2 – 9 Skye Week’s field trip to Skye WSc Jane Hickman

Jacqueline Wiles: 01786 820127, [email protected]. Jane Hickman, [email protected]. Stuart Swales: 01887 840377, [email protected].

(AGS) Aberdeen Geological Society. Lectures – Thursdays in the Meston Building, University of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen at 6.30 pm. For details of field trips please contact Sidney Johnston on 07850 277145 or e-mail [email protected]. For further details see www.aberdeengeolsoc.co.uk (EGS) Edinburgh Geological Society. Lectures are held Wednesdays, 7.30 pm in the Grant Institute, West Mains Road, Edinburgh. For details of field trips please contact the EGS Excursions Secretary, e-mail [email protected]. For further details see www.edinburghgeolsoc.org. (GSG) Geological Society of Glasgow. Lectures are held Thursdays, 7.30 pm in the Gregory Building, Lilybank Gardens, University of Glasgow. For details of lectures/field trips please contact Dr Iain Allison, 0141 330 4816/4752, [email protected] or Margaret Donnelly, 0141 334 0559, [email protected]. For further details see www.geologyglasgow.org.uk (HGS) Highland Geological Society. Lectures are held at 7.15 pm in the Fairways Leisure Centre, Castle Heather, Inverness. For details of events please contact Carol James, 01808 531220, [email protected].

Moine Thrust

from Lewisian to Palaeogene with stops in between!

2nd to 9th May 2009 with Dr Iain Allison Week self-catering trip based at a hostel in Kyleakin, Skye

Costs IRO £180 [email protected]

Disclaimer: Attendance at OUGS Events Each person attending a field meeting does so on the understanding that he/she attends at his/her own risk. The OUGS has Public Liability Insurance Cover for field and indoor meetings, but Personal Accident Cover and Personal LiabilityCover remain the responsibility and personal choice of the participant. There may be an element of appropriate cover included in house insurance or in travel insurance: although OUGS activities are not particularly dangerous members are advised to check whether exclusions apply to activities in which they plan to participate in case they wish to arrange further cover . An annual travel insurance may be the best solution for any member who regularly attends field events: this again is a matter of personal choice. Please note however that all members participating in overseas events will be required to have travel insurance for the duration of the event: this is so that participants are covered for Medical, Repatriation and Personal Liability expenses. The Personal Accident element remains the personal choice of the member and again members are advised to check exclusions so that they can make an informed decision about the cover they want.

Stuart Fairley Post Exam Weekend Trip to Oban, 14th to 17th November, 2008.

Leader: Dr Roger Anderton. Reporter: Margaret Donnelly

About 22 of us arrived on Friday night at Stuart’s newly discovered ‘super 4 star hostel’ in Oban, overlooking the bay, and the other islands – a vast improvement on last year’s establishment!!

Saturday 15th November Through the rain on this overcast, damp morning, Dr Anderton gave us an introduction to the geology of the weekend. He carried out his early research in Argyll up to forty years ago and was delighted to be back; he later spent many years in the Oil Industry. The Lorne lavas form the cliffs surrounding Oban, with typical stepped topography; the ORS lies underneath, and along this area of the Argyll coast, and sits on the late Precambrian, low grade metamorphic . Nearby to the north lies the Great Glen Fault, and beyond this, the Moine. We drove off across the Connell Bridge towards Benderloch and Port Selma, NM 905376. Much to our delight, we started back at the spot where we left off last year! On the beach was a large outcrop of pale grey, white and black low grade metamorphic rock of sandstone and mudstone clasts; very poorly sorted, it contained pebbles, cobbles and rafts of the mudstone and sandstone, and in one area, rounded brown ferroan clasts of dolomite. Examining the various beds we agreed that it younged to the south. This had been a debris flow from the north, possibly a submarine canyon collapse, at one end of a large basin extending to the south of , and is the Port Selma Boulder Bed, at the base of the Slates (Argyll Group), contemporary with the Conglomerate on Islay. We walked south along the beach a little way to Creag an Eig where a huge cliff of ORS conglomerate stood tall the beside the road, and spilt on to the beach. It contained clasts of andesite, basalt and Dalradian schist – very dramatic!! After a struggle we found the unconformity with the Dalradian hidden in a cleft, and then, further along, a ‘landscape’ unconformity – the Dalradian had formed the bank of a stream bed and now had clasts of ORS plastered on to it, and onto the stream bed. This represented a gap of ~ 200Ma! We drove round to the north side of Tralee Bay, NM 894388, close to the very significant Benderloch Slide, and on the beach examined the Tralee Bay Quartzite, equivalent to the Jura Quartzite. Cross-bedding showed it to be the right way up with the palaeocurrent from the northeast. The Jura Quartzite was laid down in tidal, shallow conditions, like the North Sea, while the Easdale Slates, soft and so eroded out from the bay, were laid down in much deeper water of ~ 1 km. Relatively sudden subsidence had occurred, in thousands of years not millions, as extension in the crust caused a major drop in the basin at the Jura Quartzite/Easdale Slates junction. The basin subsequently filled up. Two major phases of subsidence had occurred – the other at the base of the Crinan Grits. We were standing where the bottom had dropped out of the basin, 610 – 615 Ma. The Argyll Group is transitional between the Appin (deeper, fills up, deeper, fills up) and the Southern Highland Groups (much deeper, does not fill up, because of extension with the opening of the Iapetus Ocean). While workng in this area, Dr Anderton had proposed a date of ~ 600 Ma for the Tayviallich volcanics, based on dykes in Canada. Today, the accepted date is 601 Ma!! Our leader then asked: ‘How ORS/Dalradian 'landscape' unconformity. can we be certain this is the Jura Quartzite? It could be other ORS conglomerate on Easdale slates. Seonaid Leishman. quartzites – Appin, Glencoe, Binnein etc.’ He assured us that he was about to prove it!! The Easdale Slates are behind us, above in the stratigraphy, but what is below...... ? We headed northeast on a minor road alongside a high ridge of ‘Jura’ Quartzite, and the Benderloch Slide, here the junction between the Appin and the Argyll Groups, and struggled through the undergrowth beside the road, ~ NM 895405, to a poor looking outcrop of ‘calcareous siltstone slightly cleaved and with granite clasts’ – the Baravullin Boulder Bed, equivalent to the Port Askaig Tillite of Snowball Earth fame. One of the group muttered that it was better than the exposure in the Muckle Fergie Burn, in the hills near Tomintoul!! And so, with the tillite below, and the Easdale Slates above, this must be the Jura Quartzite! The Benderloch Slide is one of a number of normal extensional faults which were subsequently reversed by compression during the orogeny, but not all the way back so that they still appear to be normal. Early workers called them ‘slides’ because they could not explain what was happening. We headed for lunch at the Sea Life Centre, NM 943413, and then down onto the beach to examine a metamorphic rock of sandstones and siltstones, its bedding/cleavage relationships and facing direction. There were two sets of cleavage: mountain building and mountain collapse. The first set is more important but was hard to see here, and we were happy to be convinced by our leader’s superior experience!! The cleavage was to the north, the dip 750 to the northeast, the beds were the right way up and younged to the west. This was the Beinn Donn Quartzite, equivalent to the Easdale Slates or the Cairn Mairg Quartzite of Perthshire. Our last locality was the Creran Bridge Quartzite, NM 980447, equivalent to the Jura Quartzite. The crossing of a dangerous bend in the road had to be negotiated but the younging direction and cleavage could be seen much more clearly. And then it was back to the hostel, for much needed refreshment!

Sunday 16th November On a beautiful morning we sailed off on the Mull ferry, looking out to the south for the islands of Kerrera, the Dutchman’s Cap, , Easdale, Scarba, Jura, Insh Island, the and Mull, in the Firth of Lorne. Safely landed in Craignure, we went down to the shore just southeast of the pier. A very complex area with a variety of sedimentary, volcanic and intrusive rocks, there were hard lavas in the cliffs behind us, hard rock on the shore, soft in the bay (eroded out) and then hard rock enclosing the bay. We walked along the shore to a very hard, fine-grained, homogeneous white sandstone with little feldspar, slightly metamorphosed to quartzite. The bedding was not easily perceived, making it difficult to decide whether an intrusion was a dyke or a sill, and both had columnar jointing. As we rounded the bay to the northeast, we found a very mature conglomerate of small, quite rounded quartz clasts in a quartzite matrix, followed by a coarse-grained sandstone with large cross-beds. These require at least 5 m depth, and indicated the powerful currents of a big river, delta, or shallow marine shelf, and a bigger current for the conglomerate. The ancient local topography had been low and mature, with no new uplifted fault blocks and so the tectonics were Duart Castle, Lismore with the lighthouse, and Cruachan ‘quiescent’. The rocks dipped 550 to the southwest, in the background. Margaret Greene. the palaeocurrent was towards the southeast and there were nodules of pedogenic carbonate. As we crossed the rocks, the dip reversed twice, evidence of large folds, and the contact with the conglomerate was unclear. All this we attempted to record on a blank map given to us by our leader! We left the beach and started uphill, first on the road and then off on a track, pausing to take in the view across the sound of Mull to Morvern where we could see lavas, the Moine and the Strontian granite quarried at Glen Sanda. At this point, due to the call of nature, three of us got separated and lost the rest of the party. Fortunately, one member had kept their phone switched on!! We passed Torosay Castle and the Railway, and descended again to the beach where, reunited, we settled for lunch in the sunshine, beside an old pier, NM 735355. Looking out across the bay and Duart Castle to the Firth of Lorne, the rockcut platforms of the mainland, Lismore and other islands were clear to see. The rocks on this shore were Jurassic, Sinemurian, and very bioturbated with truly abundant trace fossils. All the sediments would have been completely turned over in six to eighteen months, so that all sedimentary structures have now gone. We crawled over and scrutinised them – some were particularly good, including specimens of Spreite. Further northwest we

Our group beside the Torosay Sandstone...... and Stuart was there too!! Stuart Fairley. came to the very cross-bedded Torosay Sandstone – an estuary mouth or restricted channel suggesting that the ancient scenery was a precursor of today’s, with the same geometry (and Sound of Mull). A large acidic igneous outcrop followed, and we climbed over this to a small cove where we stood on the Shale and viewed the wavy contact with the Torosay Sandstone in the wall of the cove. Bailey had described this intrusion and named it ‘Craignureite’!! Rounding a final bend, the intrusion lay on the Pabay Shale, with a gently curving base, just like a listric fault (!!), and there was much heated discussion about the nature of the rock and its contact!! The light was now failing, so we headed back for the ferry (some brave souls attempted to examine more rocks in the gloaming) and Oban.

Monday 17th November An overcast and dreech morning, some of the party had now gone home, so about sixteen of us set off to examine glacial features around Lochs Etive and Creran. Just north of the Connell Bridge, NM 907348, we gazed across the sea through the downpour, while our leader described some details of the last glaciation, the Devensian, and the Loch Lomond Stadial. The glacial cycle lasts ~ 120,000 years, getting cold slowly and then warming up fast. Rockcut platforms, islands that look like submarines with a conning tower (Dutchman’s Cap) and raised beaches were created by the changing sea levels, melting ice, and isostatic rebound, in a very complex process with the land and sea going up and down all over the place! The rockcut platforms are pre Loch Lomond Stadial, with later raised beaches on top, and usually require thousands of years to form. Here they took only hundreds because of the periglacial conditions – freeze/thaw action is very effective. We were standing on an outwash plain, to which glacial rivers had brought sand and gravel, and subsequent raised beach, with the rockcut cliff behind us. There are two/three raised beaches here, and the airport runway sits on one. Only the last glaciation has left evidence in this area and much of Scotland, while up to four glacial periods can be distinguished in East Anglia. We drove a short distance north (~ NM 908360) to what looked like a railway embankment but in fact is a natural spit of land – the nearby main road runs along the old railway line. We looked eastwards across the outwash fan which sloped gently towards us (its topographical heights have been exactly measured), and pictured the glacier coming towards us. Continuing eastwards to a very flat field (NM 915352), with a horse which got over-excited at our intrusion, we saw three lochs in a row, in the Moss of Achnacree. These were kettle holes – the retreating glacier had left behind blocks of ice which became surrounded by the sand and gravel of outwash rivers. Then all had melted leaving the large holes to become lochs. Further east we were overlooking the southern end of Loch Etive (NM 929353), with a steep cliff face of sand and gravel marking the line where the retreating glacier had paused for some time while glacial streams carried material into the outwash fan to the west. The glacier had then resumed its retreat leaving a large pile of material built up here. We were standing on a kame terrace and could clearly see kame terraces along the mountain sides on the other side of the loch. Those further into valley were at a lower level because the glacier was getting smaller. As a glacier retreats and gets smaller, a gap develops along the hillside and becomes filled with a triangle of debris; as the glacier retreats further and melts, some of this triangle collapses leaving a wedge (kame terrace) in place, and mounds of debris on the valley floor. South of us was the channel which had subsequently been cut by meltwater through the fan to the sea. We drove round the west and north sides of the loch to a church at NM 945359, and walked east, spotting eskers (ridges and bumps along the hillside) and other glacial features. Further east at Bonawe, the loch is 140 m deep, gouged out by the ice, but here it is much shallower. The topography is basically Tertiary, following uplift since ca 60 Ma, and ice has moulded and modified it. By now it was midday, and the rain was teeming. Most of us decided to head for home, and thanked Roger enthusiastically for such a fascinating trip. A few ‘bravehearts’ continued to Loch Creran where they found, at the head of the beach, a clay with an occasional line of angular clasts – a tillite, rather different from Port Askaig in appearance and age!! It contains shells which allow it to be dated. These are the Clyde beds, laid down at a time of intense cold prior to the Readvance, at the same time as the rock platform was formed, or just before. Further along the beach was a glacial moraine deposit which overlaid the tillite and this is turn was onlapped by a younger, raised beach deposit. Dating of the tillite and beach deposits allow the period of glaciation to be bracketed. And here, final farewells were finally made at the end of a truly interesting and enjoyable weekend!!

ELECTRONIC ‘ERRATIX’ Almost half of our readers now receive their copy of ERRATIX via e-mail as a PDF file (300-500KB). If anyone else would like to do so, then please let me know (Adobe Reader can be downloaded free from www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.). Benefits are You’ll receive your copy 2-3 days ahead of postal delivery It will be in glorious technicolour You can store your copy on hard disk or print off if you wish – saving shelf space Postal costs to the branch will be reduced.

The Ian Gass Bursary. This award (up to £750) is made annually. Open to anyone who has studied with the OU (good grades in at least 3 Earth Science courses required) and wishes to pursue independent geological work, but who doesn’t already have a grant – PhD, MSc or PP (private passion) for example. Details from http://www3.open.ac.uk/Earth-Sciences/opp-bursaries.shtml.

Please remember to renew your membership!!!!!!!!

A Merry Cristmas and a Happy New Year

Editor : Margaret Donnelly, 56 White Street, Glasgow, G11 5EB tel: 0141 334 0559 email : [email protected].

Library Materials – Dec 2008

Solid or Name Author Published Format drift Sheet Edition Geology of the Glasgow District B.J Pluck 1973 Book - - - The Grampian Highlands G.S.Johnstone 1978 Book - - Third

Minerals, Fossils and Rocks W.R Hamilton,A.R Woolley, A.C Bishop 1974 Book - - - Geological Excursion Guide to the Glasgow District D.A Basset 1958 Book - - - The Geology and Scenery of Strathearn Frederick Walker 1963 Book - - - Nairn - 1954 Map Drift 84 Drift Hamilton - 1978 Map Drift 23 Drift Leadhills - 1978 Map Solid 15E Solid Perth - 1978 Map Solid 48W Solid Airdrie - 1969 Map Solid 31 Solid Alloa - 1974 Map Solid 39E Solid Sanquhar - 1978 Map Solid 15 Solid The Causeway Coast - - Map Solid 7 Solid Tay Forth - - Map Solid 56 N 04 W Solid Elgin - 1969 Map Solid 95 Solid East Mull - 1992 Map Solid S44W, pt S44E Solid Connell - 1991 Map Solid S44W Solid Lismore - 1992 Map Solid S44E Solid Kilmartin - 2003 Map Bedrock S36 Bedrock Pitlochry - 1981 Map Solid S55E Solid Assynt: The Geologists' Mecca P.Dryburgh,A.MacGregor,S.Ross,C.Thompson 1995 Book - - - Ancient Sedimentary Environments R.C Selley 1985 Book - - Third The Geology of Offshore Ireland and West Britain D Naylor & P.M Shannon 1982 Book - - - The Geological Map:An Anatomy of the Landscape Eric Edmonds 1983 Book - - - The Story of the the Earth - 1972 Book - - - Open University Geological Society Journal - 2000 Book - - Spring Ed. 2000 Volume 21(1) Open University Geological Society Journal - 1999 Book - - Symposium Ed. 1999 Volume 20(2) Open University Geological Society Journal - 1999 Book - - Spring Ed. 1999 Volume 21(1) Open University Geological Society Journal - 2000 Book - - Symposium Ed. 2000 Volume 21(2) Loch Lomond to Stirling:Landscape fashioned by Geography - - Book - - - Evolution 3: The Age of Reptiles(The Mesozoic Era) - 1977 Book - - - Tayside Geology 1961 Book - - - Crystals; Symmetry in the Mineral Kingdom Vincenzo De Michele 1972 Book - - - Total S260 O.U Course + Textbooks,Videos and CDs ------The Geology of Scotland Edited by Nigel H. Trewin 2002 Book - - Fourth

OUGS WEST OF SCOTLAND BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

2.00 pm Saturday 17th January 2009 at Pitlochry Youth Hostel Guest speaker: tba + EAST AND WEST OF SCOTLAND BRANCH BURNS SUPPER Saturday Morning Field Trip: tba

Cost: £40 including 2 Nights Accommodation (Friday/Saturday) and Burns Supper

Please Note: Attendance at the AGM itself is FREE

Full Amount Payable on Booking, *Guests are very welcome to attend the weekend* [So please remember to invite spouses, offspring, siblings, parents, in-laws and out-laws] Health Warning: The meal will be cooked with the help of Branch Committee members

Other Information Bookings: In order to secure the booking and keep costs down the hostel has been booked on a 2 night basis, therefore we need as many bookings as possible for both nights, please. Accommodation: This will be in 4 – 8 bed dormitories with bunks (all en-suite). Maximum 65 beds. All Bedding is supplied but you need to bring your own towel. We have made a block booking of the entire hostel for the night so membership of the SYHA is not required. Bookings will be accepted on a first come, first served basis, so book early to avoid disappointment. Breakfast: Please bring your own and/or there are plenty of shops in town. Location: Pitlochry Youth Hostel, Knockard Road, Pitlochry, PH16 5HU. 0870 004 1145. Map Ref: O.S.52 (GR 943584). www.syha.org.uk. Refreshments: Please bring your own. There are plenty of shops in town. Alcohol is permitted but smoking is not allowed inside the Youth Hostel. Payment: Full amount due on booking. We need to confirm numbers and pay the balance in full to the Hostel by mid December. Late bookings may not accepted

Please complete the form below, and return with a cheque made out to OUGS West of Scotland Branch and a SAE to: Jacqueline Wiles, 21 Wedderburn Road, Dunblane, Stirling, FK15 0FN

Name ………………………………………………………….. Membership No……….……

Branch ………………………………………Phone No/ Email……………………………………..

Address…………………………………………………………………………………......

I wish to attend the AGM + Burns Supper + 2 Nights Accommodation Yes/No £40.00

I wish to attend the AGM + Burns Supper + 1 Night Accommodation Yes/No £25.00

I wish to attend the AGM + Burns Supper Only Yes/No £10.00

I will be attending the AGM only Yes/No FREE

Vegetarian Haggis Yes/No