Kinuachdrach, Jura
Geological Conservation Review site | GCR #2683 | Structural and Metamorphic Geology | Dalradian
Scotland's geosites are chosen because of their local, national or international importance. Take only photos, leave only footprints: avoid causing any damage to this site. You can walk almost anywhere in Scotland without the need to ask permission or keep to paths, but you have a responsibility to care for your own safety, to respect people's privacy and peace of mind and to cause no damage.
This site is partially a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly damage the protected natural features of a SSSI, and this includes unauthorised sample collection.
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.
Summary
This site exposes a section from the Scarba Conglomerate down to the Jura Quartzite, and includes the submarine palaeoslope. The Jura Quartzite-Scarba Conglomerate boundary north of Barnhill is thought to represent a fossilised slump scarp. Slumping from, and erosion of, the slope was initiated whilst tidal current sedimentation continued on the shallow shelf to the south. However, as the slump scar truncates both the Jura Quartzite and the lowermost Scarba Conglomerate, the final episode of slumping occurred after deposition of the first turbidites on the shelf. Around Barnhill the conglomerate lithologies are thick, graded conglomerates and pebbly sands with abundant sedimentary structures. North of Kinuadrach, Scarba Conglomerate turbidites are seen lying above the slump scarp. These are a series of thick sands interbedded with slates showing many minor tectonic structures. This is a unique site in that it exposes a fossilised slump scarp. It is important for an understanding of the environment of depostion of the Scarba Conglomerate, its stratigraphic relationships and the wider view of the development of the Dalradian depositional basin as a whole.
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