Geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district : Bedrock and superficial geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district : description for sheet 64 (Scotland)

Smith, R.A.; Merritt, J.W.; Leslie, A.G.; Krabbendam, M.; Stephenson, D.. 2011 Geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district : Bedrock and superficial geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district : description for sheet 64 (Scotland). Nottingham, UK, British Geological Survey, 122pp. (OR/11/055) (Unpublished)

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Abstract/Summary

This report provides an account of the geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district in the Grampian Highlands of Scotland, which extends from the Cairngorm massif in the north-east, west across to the Upper Spey valley and south into the upper parts of Glen Tilt and Glen Fearnach. The district is nearly all remote countryside with steep-sided glens between upland plateaus with relatively few distinct mountain peaks. The entire area lies within the Cairngorm National Park and much of the land is covered by large estates run for game conservation and recreational sports. The bulk of the rocks are metasedimentary and most of these are assigned to the Neoproterozoic Dalradian Supergroup (Figure 1). In the north-west near Newtonmore, a ridge or ‘palaeohigh’ of older metasedimentary rocks, the Glen Banchor Subgroup, is considered to lie below the Dalradian. The Dalradian Supergroup forms a thick succession of originally clastic, carbonate and pelitic rocks. Much of the latter is graphitic and pelagic in origin. The metasedimentary rocks were intruded by relatively minor basic igneous and granitic bodies as the Rodinian palaeocontinent broke up. At about 470 Ma the Laurentian continental margin collided with an island arc causing the Grampian Event of the Caledonian Orogeny. The orogeny is mainly manifest in four deformation phases which included early large nappe-like folds, ductile shear-zones and prograde Barrovian regional metamorphism. Most of the rocks in this district lie within the kyanite zone but, because most of the rocks are siliceous, this index mineral is scarce. Semipelitic rocks are locally migmatitic. The earlier Precambrian metamorphism in the Glen Banchor Subgroup is overprinted by the Grampian metamorphism.

Item Type:	Publication - Report
Programmes:	BGS Programmes 2010 > Geology and Landscape (Scotland)
Funders/Sponsors:	British Geological Survey
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	This item has been internally reviewed but not externally peer-reviewed
Date made live:	24 Mar 2016 15:44 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513321

Item Type:

Publication - Report

Programmes:

BGS Programmes 2010 > Geology and Landscape (Scotland)

Funders/Sponsors:

British Geological Survey

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

This item has been internally reviewed but not externally peer-reviewed

Date made live:

24 Mar 2016 15:44 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513321