Scotland has over 1000 sites that are designated as important for geology and geomorphology at a national or local level
level. The Scottish Geology Trust's Geosites project aims to build a map and database for all these sites, to encourage greater awareness and
conservation. Geosites project volunteers are adding information and photographs.
Find out more
Use the
map menu (top right) to find sites of interest. Zoom in to see site boundaries, and click on the site for more information.
Access and Geoconservation
Everyone has a right to access most land in Scotland. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 means that you can walk
almost anywhere without the need to ask permission or keep to paths. Alongside this right comes the responsibility
to care for your own safety, to respect people's privacy and peace of mind and to cause no damage. This means, for
instance, that you do not walk through someone's garden or across a field of growing crops. You can find out more at
www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot. The right of access does not extend to quarries, building sites or any land where public access is prohibited, or to the collection of geological samples.
Scotland's Geosites have a range of international, national and local designations that help to safeguard Scotland's
geodiversity. This means that they are important and should be treated with respect. Geoconservation aims to
maintain valuable site features, and ensure these remain visible.
You can avoid causing damage to a Geosite by:
not reducing the geosite's physical attributes (e.g. don't remove rock)
not reducing its visibility (e.g. don't dump rubbish or paint graffiti etc), and
not disrupting the operation of natural processes in active geosites.
You can contribute positively to geoconservation by reporting issues such as overgrown vegetation, and working with
land managers to to help solve problems.
Copyright of all photographs added to the Geosites website remains with the photographer, but they are available under the Creative Commons
non-commercial reuse license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows re-users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any
medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. Attribution should include
the name of the photographer and 'Geosites project, Scottish Geology Trust' or a link to the project website. For any other use, please
contact us.
Funding
We are grateful for funding and support for the pilot phase of this project from the following organisations:
