Scotland

Imaggeo on Mondays: Cooking crystals in the Earth cauldron

Hazel Gibson February 10, 2020

Cooking crystals in the Earth cauldron. Credit: Julien Leuthold (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This picture shows a 30 micrometer thick rock section of a gabbro from the Rum Layered Intrusion (Scotland). Large clinopyroxene crystals are enclosed in a foliated fine grained groundmass of plagioclase and olivine. The clinopyroxene core crystallized at an early stage, at 1160°C. They were partly molten at 1200°C during successive hot magma injections and subsequently recrystallized, enclosing h ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: When boulders hitch a ride from glaciers

Ian Watkinson January 6, 2020

Glacially transported boulders, Glen More. Credit: Ian Watkinson (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Glen More, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, is a classic locality for studying glacial landforms and sediments. Here, two prominent ice-transported boulders stand guard at the head of the valley, left behind after the Loch Lomond Readvance (Younger Dryas stade), the final pulse of Quaternary glaciation in Scotland. Behind them in the characteristic U-shaped valley, hummocky morraines are littered wi ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Loch Coruisk – home of the wild Kelpie

Cedric Gillmann July 22, 2019

Home of the wild Kelpie Credit: Cedric Gillmann (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

On the south-western coast of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, lies Loch Coruisk, supposedly home of a water horse. At the southern end of this freshwater Loch, the Scavaig River discharges into a sea Loch, Loch na Cuilce. Loch Coruisk snuggles close to the center of the Cuillin Hills complex, younger than both the northern and southern formations of the Isle. At present, the neighbouring hills are dom ...[Read More]