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The South Rhins of Scotland has two contrasting coastlines,
consisting predominantly of high, rocky cliffs along its west coast,
and low-lying raised beach terraces along its east coast.
The South Rhins of Scotland has two contrasting coastlines, consisting predominantly of high, rocky cliffs along its west coast, and low-lying raised beach terraces along its east coast. |  |  | The hard rock underlying the area is a type of 'muddy' sandstone known as greywacke and is generally either grey or red in colour. This rock belongs to two ancient geological periods known as the Ordovician and Silurian, which occurred about 400-500 million years ago, when it was deposited horizontally in beds a few feet thick, deep on the ocean floor. | There followed a period of deformation, which produced major folds and faults, altering the beds to almost vertical layering. This is clearly seen at East and West Tarbet where more easily eroded rocks have formed a neck, marking the northern end of the Mull. Over millions of years ice, rain, sea and wind have sculpted these rocks to form the land as we see it today. | The headland's skull-cap of heather is a last precious fragment of a greater heath made green by the centuries-long spread of agriculture. | | | | | | | | |
There followed a period of deformation, which produced major folds and faults, altering the beds to almost vertical layering. This is clearly seen at East and West Tarbet where more easily eroded rocks have formed a neck, marking the northern end of the Mull. Over millions of years ice, rain, sea and wind have sculpted these rocks to form the land as we see it today. The headland's skull-cap of heather is a last precious fragment of a greater heath made green by the cnturies-long spread of agriculture. |
