The Northern Moine Thrust Belt

The northern part of the Moine thrust contains some of the most revered ground in British structural geology. The Assynt culmination and Eriboll districts have attracted visitors for over a century. The Glencoul and Arnabol Thrusts were the first two such structures to be recognised within the British Isles and are amongst the first interpreted in the world. The area inspired pioneering studies of large scale structural geometry but also seeded early investigations of microstructure and rock deformation. It continues to play a key role in earth science training. The region displays a huge range of structural styles, with the involvement of thin, far-travelled basement sheets, fine-scale imbrication of individual beds in the Cambrian succession through to multiple repetition of formations. Overall the area is characterised by multi-stacked duplexes on all scales. You can explore a whole range of structural geometry - click here for the map of the Northern Moine Thrust Belt.

Moine Thrust Belt front page

Photograph: Looking NE from the top of Spidean Coinich, Quinag. In the middle distance lie the sea lochs of Glendhu and Glencoul, with the Glencoul Thrust Sheet. Beyond lie the quartzite mountains of Foinaven and Arkle. You don't often get days like this!