Geodiversity of the Cairngorms National Park Geology and Landscape Scotland Programme Open Report OR/10/019 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEOLOGY AND LANDSCAPE SCOTLAND PROGRAMME OPEN REPORT OR/10/019 Geodiversity of the Cairngorms National Park H F Barron, M R Gillespie and J W Merritt The National Grid and other Ordnance Survey data are used with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Licence No: 100017897/ 2011. Keywords Cairngorms National Park, Landscape Character, Geology, Geomorphology Front cover Carn an t-Sabhail (1291 m) from the top of Coire Brochain, Braigh Riabhach, Cairngorm National Park. P689667. Bibliographical reference BARRON, H F, GILLESPIE, M R & MERRITT, J W 2011. Geodiversity of the Cairngorms National Park. British Geological Survey Open Report, OR/10/019. 43pp. Copyright in materials derived from the British Geological Survey’s work is owned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and/or the authority that commissioned the work. You may not copy or adapt this publication without first obtaining permission. Contact the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Section, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, e-mail [email protected]. You may quote extracts of a reasonable length without prior permission, provided a full acknowledgement is given of the source of the extract. Maps and diagrams in this book use topography based on Ordnance Survey mapping. © NERC 2011. 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The project was jointly funded by BGS and the CNPA. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Matthew Hawkins (CNPA) and David Stephenson (BGS) for their helpful comments and advice during this project. i OR/10/019; Final 1.2 Last modified: 2011/12/13 09:36 Contents Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... i Contents .......................................................................................................................................... ii Summary ....................................................................................................................................... iii 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 The Cairngorms National Park ....................................................................................... 1 1.2 Cairngorms National Park Plan ...................................................................................... 1 2 Why geodiversity matters ...................................................................................................... 2 3 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 4 3.1 Literature and data review .............................................................................................. 4 3.2 Site database and GIS compilation ................................................................................. 4 3.3 Selection of potential Local Geodiversity Sites for the CNP ......................................... 4 4 Bedrock geodiversity of the Cairngorms National Park .................................................... 6 4.1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 6 4.2 Recommended Bedrock geodiverstiy sites ..................................................................... 6 5 Quaternary landforms and deposits of the Cairngorm National Park ............................. 8 5.1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 8 5.2 The landforms and deposits ............................................................................................ 8 5.3 Recommended Quaternary geodiversity sites ................................................................ 9 6 References ............................................................................................................................. 11 TABLES Table 1 Geodiversity Site selection criteria – Geoscientific Merit ................................................. 5 Table 2 Recommended Bedrock geodiversity sites ...................................................................... 13 Table 3 Recommended Quaternary geodiversity sites .................................................................. 22 FIGURES Figure 1 Major stratigraphical and intrusive divisions in the bedrock geology of the CNP, and geological and chronological affiliations of proposed bedrock geodiversity sites ....................... 31 Figure 2: Simplified bedrock geology of the Cairngorms National Park ..................................... 32 Figure 3: Bedrock geodiversity sites ............................................................................................. 33 Figure 4: Simplified superficial deposits of the Cairngorms National Park ................................. 34 Figure 5: Quaternary geodiversity sites ........................................................................................ 35 ii OR/10/019; Final 1.2 Last modified: 2011/12/13 09:36 Summary This report describes the results of a desk-based geodiversity audit of the Cairngorms National Park commissioned by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) and jointly funded by the British Geological Survey (BGS). It represents a first pass at selecting the most important localities for Local Geodiversity Sites in the Cairngorms National Park, based on available information and local knowledge of BGS geologists. Thirty-five bedrock geodiversity sites (including 23 Geological Conservation Review Sites) and fifty-four Quaternary sites (including 38 Geological Conservation Review Sites) are proposed as Park geodiversity sites. These sites should not be regarded as the final definitive list, but as a framework to which additional sites can be added as more information becomes available. The main outputs from the project are GIS and database files of the geodiversity sites. iii OR/10/019; Final 1.2 Last modified: 2011/12/13 09:36 1 Introduction Geodiversity is the variety of rocks, minerals, fossils, landforms sediments and soils, together with the natural processes which form and alter them (Gordon and Barron, 2010). Geodiversity also links people, landscapes and their culture through the interactions of biodiversity, soils, minerals, rocks, fossils, active processes and the built environment (Stanley, 2004). 1.1 THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK Established in 2003 as Scotland’s second national park, the 4,528 km2 Cairngorms National Park (CNP) is the UK’s largest national park, and is over twice the size of both the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Lake District parks. It is a mountainous area with 36% of the land area over 800 metres and 2% over 1000 metres in altitude. Four of Scotland's five highest mountains are within the Park and there are 55 summits over 900 metres. It contains the largest area of