Day 2: Conic Hill and Travelling to Oban!

On May 18th the Scotland crew hiked up Conic Hill which is on the border between the Scottish Lowlands and the Highlands. This important distinction is marked by the presence of the Highland Boundary Fault and has been dated to the Ordovician and Middle Devonian period of the Earth's history.

The major lithologies in the area are the Old Red Sandstone conglomerates and sandstones to the south east with a wide variety of metamorphic rocks to the north west, including schists, phyllites, and slates. Between the both of these is the Highland Border Complex, a weakly metamorphosed area of sandstones, lava, limestones, mudstones, and conglomerates.

Standing on outcrops across Conic Hill we could see the Highland border complex as we were hiking. Seeing these geologic structures in the field really helps connect the theoretical that we study with the practical applications that are out in the world.

Some of the students decided to test their limits and hike to the very top of the hill (361m above sea level) for group photos.






After the hike back down we drove to our  second stop at the ballachulish slate quarry which had many spectacular cubic pyrite samples as well as an interesting mafic dike. This quarry had been used from the 1700's until 1955 and supplied the majority of Scotland with slate shingles for roofing.

Following this stop we completed our day by driving to the hostel in Oban and started preparing to visit the island of Iona for the next day!

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