Barron, H F, Gillespie, M R and Merritt, J W 2011. Geodiversity of the Cairngorms National Park. British Geological Survey Open Report, OR/10/019
A PDF of this report is available from the NORA, the NERC archive
Site no.: B23
Site name: Ben Vuirich (GCR site)
Grid reference:
Locality: Ben Vuirich, c. 13 km WNW of Blair Atholl
GCR Status: Confirmed
GCR No.: 0
Type: Natural exposures
Description: The site encompasses that part of the outcrop of the Ben Vuirich Granite Pluton and its thermally metamorphosed Dalradian country rocks that lies within the CNP (the CNP boundary runs across the summit of Ben Vuirich). The outcrop provides excellent exposures of the deformed and foliated granite, and its country rocks. The GCR volume 'Dalradian rocks of Scotland' (Stephenson et al., 2010) contains a full description of the site.
Justification: The pluton is of considerable geological significance for two reasons. (1) It is the 'type' intrusion of the Vuirich Suite (c. 600 Ma granite plutons in Scotland and North America that formed during crustal extension before the Iapetus Ocean opened). (2) It pre-dates all deformation associated with the Caledonian Orogeny, however its country rocks preserve an early tectonic fabric which is at the centre of an ongoing debate about whether Dalradian rocks were deformed by an older (pre-600 Ma) orogenic event. The outcome of that debate has profound implications for the tectonic history of the Grampian Terrane.