Foinaven
Geological Conservation Review site | GCR #3283 | Structural and Metamorphic Geology | Moine
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
The Foinaven wilderness contains some of the most dramatic exposures of thrust geometry in Europe. Near three-dimensional exposures show the range and complexity of structural geometries that can result from repeated imbrication in a section through the Moine Thrust Belt.
The area is superb for tracking the detailed lateral variation in imbricate structures and for examining the transition in fault-rock type across a broad swathe of the Moine Thrust Belt. Yet it remains to be established how far the late motions at the base of the Moine Thrust Sheet can be traced. The outcrop quality is ideal for investigating the distribution of cataclastic fault rocks, developed in the Pipe Rock, but to date there has been remarkably little work on these materials, in contrast to the ductile mylonites found elsewhere in the thrust belt. The area is of international importance for the study and understanding of linked thrust systems. It is the global type locality for duplex structures and was one of the first places in the Moine Thrust Belt that a "piggy-back" thrust sequence was demonstrated.
Site information
Further information
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYSBjYP5lo0&t=319s
Video tour of the northern part of the site - showing the thrust structures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_PMMRIOx-U
Video on the original mapping by Cadell and how it inspired his "experiments in mountain building"
Related geosites
Overlaps with:
Rob Butler
The Foinaven crags on the side of Srath Dionard - showing imbricated Cambrian quartzites - this is the type section of duplex structure, recorded first by Cadell in the 1880s, re-interpreted by Elliott & Johnson (1980) and promoted by Boyer & Elliott (1982).
Peter Reynolds
July 2, 2011
Strath Dionard:
Panorama of the Creag Urbhard cliffs showing full length of the imbricate stacking in the quartzites
Peter Reynolds
July 2, 2011
Strath Dionard:
Close up if imbricate stack from foot of the Creag Urbhard cliff.
Rob Butler
Looking across Srath Beag to Conamheall and Foinaven behind - a natural cross-section through the imbricated Cambrian Pipe Rock.
Rob Butler
Classic view of Arkle across Loch stack showing imbricated Cambrian quartzites running out into the foreland.
Rob Butler
Imbricated Cambrian quartzites form the near ground, looking southwards towards the hills of Ben More Assynt - from the ridge of Foivaven.
Rob Butler
A stacked pile of imbricated Pipe Rock on the slopes of Creag Shomhairle, displaying a classic "antiformal stack" duplex structure.
Rob Butler
View across Strath Beag onto the slopes of Conamheall, showing imbricated Pipe Rock.