Camas nam Buth
Geological Conservation Review site | GCR #701 | Mineralogy | Mineralogy of Scotland
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 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 demonstrates metamorphosed layered intrusives within the Lewisian gneiss consisting mainly of garnet-pyroxene rock. Two intrusions trending ENE from the north shore of the bay are separated by a coarse pegmatitic microcline gneiss some 10m in thickness. The lower intrusion, about 4m thick, shows garnets, which are best developed just above a basal layer of pyroxenite. Clots of almandine may be up to 20cm in diameter. The upper intrusion is more sporadic in its development of almandine-rich areas. Both garnet pyroxenites are well-exposed in inland cliff faces, and although the main cliff on the north side of the beach is in pegmatitic gneiss, large boulders of the garnet rocks are found on the foreshore. Although of undoubted petrographic interest, the site yields the best garnets seen anywhere in Britain and also probably the only example of pure pyroxene rock.
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