Geology of the Moray Firth

This report covers the areas between 57° 30' N and 59° 30' N and between the Scottish coast and 1° E. The authors are Ian Andrews, Dave Long, Phil Richards, A.R. Thomson, Stewart Brown, John Chesher and Mark McCormac.

The Geology of the area : The onshore geology consists chiefly of metamorpic Moine and Dalradian rocks intruded by a number of granites and unconformably overlain by Old Red Sandstone of the Orcadian Basin. The offshore area has been a depositional centre since the Devonian, with up to 16 km of sediment preserved in the deepest part of the basin.
The Permo-Triassic sediments are dominated by continental deposits laid down in an arid environment, but include Upper Permian shallow marine carbonates and sulphates from the Zechstein Sea. The Jurassic was again a time of shallow marine sedimentation, though the Middle Jurassic was dominated by the presence of a subaerial volcanic centre in the extreme east of the area.
The Late Jurassic and early Cretaceous saw the main phase of block faulting and graben development, associated with the opening of the North Atlantic. During the late Cretaceous and Tertiary, the faulting became less significant and the area was one of overall subsidence. The Quaternary deposits record early deltaic sedimentation, follwoed by predominantly glacial and glaciomarine conditions in the middle to late Pleistocene.

Author Andrews, I.J.

ISBN 0118843796

Year Published 1990