Geology of the Edinburgh district

Browne, M.A.E.; Gould, D.; Akhurst, M.C.; Monaghan, A.; Reeves, T.. 2025 Geology of the Edinburgh district. Nottingham, UK, British Geological Survey, 138pp. (OR/25/006) (Unpublished)

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text
OR25006.pdf
Download (11MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

This Open Report describes the geology of the Edinburgh district and surrounding area, and accompanies the BGS Sheet 32E (Edinburgh) sheets, with a Bedrock edition (2003) and a Bedrock and Superficial Deposits edition (2006). The report was originally intended as a Sheet Description, but this series was discontinued before revisions and editing of the manuscript were complete. Some authors retired from BGS, and the manuscript languished in the bottom drawer for a decade. With the new BGS strategy for Maps and Models for the 21st century (BGS 2023), it was decided that the manuscript still represented a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the geology of Edinburgh district. As a result, although published in 2025, the report represents the state of knowledge and understanding of the geology as reached in the early 2000s, and the reader needs to take into account the vintage of the report. However, this report has been updated in two aspects. The first concerns the re-interpretation of the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary in the district, and indeed in the Midland Valley as a whole. This boundary was previously thought to occur within the Kinneswood formation, but work in the Scottish Borders (Marshall et al. 2018) has shown that the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary occurs at the boundary between the Kinneswood and Ballagan formations. The relevant strata can be reliably correlated to the Edinburgh district, so the chronostratigraphy of these formations has been updated in this report. Secondly, changes in society and policy related to the green transition and decarbonisation of energy sources renders part of the Applied Geology section as out-of-date. Sections on fossil fuel sections are to a degree redundant, but have been retained for historic purposes. Comments in bold are added to provide more modern context and to reflect recent policy changes. The section on geothermal energy has been extensively updated by Alison Monaghan to match current interest and directions of research. Alison Monaghan and Teddy Reeves have tracked revisions and corrections, and have extensively edited the manuscript, so that the outstanding work of the original authors Mike Browne, David Gould, Alison Monaghan and Maxine Akhurst can finally be published.

Item Type:	Publication - Report
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:	04 Apr 2025 10:23 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539217

Item Type:

Publication - Report

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:

04 Apr 2025 10:23 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539217