Creag Urbhard, Foinaven

Urbhard Zoom in

The north facing cliff line overlooking Strath Dionard provides a natural section through the thrust belt, displaying large-scale repetition of the Pipe Rock (zoom in). Views onto these cliffs provide perhaps the clearest indication of the scale of imbrication within an individual formation. Originally described by Cadell (in Peach et al. 1907), this section was later formally interpreted by Elliott & Johnson (1980) as a duplex. Boyer & Elliott (1982) then cited the section as their type-example of hinterland-dipping duplexes. The floor thrust glides at the base of the Pipe Rock while the roof lies at the top of the Salterella Grit. Yet these descriptions rely on the original survey work done in the 1880s. At the time of preparing these notes there had been no modern published fieldwork which traced out the thrusts and established their interactions. Consequently it has yet to be established for this area whether the Moine Thrust (together with its far-travelled footwall horse of Lewisian basement) acted as a simple roof to the Pipe Rock duplex or truncated these structures.

Moine Thrust Belt front page location map, northern thrust belt Foinaven front page Foinaven location map