4 Information sources

Further geological information held by the British Geological Survey relevant to the Newtonmore and Ben Macdui districts is listed below. Searches of indexes to some of the collections can be made on the Geoscience Data Index in BGS libraries and on the BGS website at http://www.bgs.ac.uk.

4.1 BGS maps

1:625 000

Bedrock geology of the UK: North Map, 2007; Quaternary geology: North sheet 1977

1:250 000

57N 06W Great Glen, Solid Geology 1989; 57N 04W Moray Buchan, Solid Geology 1977;

56N 04W Tay Forth, Solid Geology 1986; 56N 06W Argyll, Solid Geology 1987

1:63 360

Original Geological Survey: Geological Survey of Great Britain (Scotland) 1” to 1 mile Sheet 64 (Kingussie) Solid and Drift, 1913

Adjacent 1”sheets (facsimile only) 73, 74, 75, 63, 65, 54, 55, 56

1:50 000

64W Newtonmore 2008 Bedrock; Bedrock and Superficial Deposits

64E Ben Macdui 2008 Bedrock; Bedrock and Superficial Deposits

Adjacent sheets

54E Loch Rannoch, Solid & Drift, 1974; 55E Pitlochry Solid, 1981; 55W Schiehallion, Solid, 2001; 56W Glen Shee, Solid, 2000; 63E Dalwhinnie, Solid, 2000; Solid & Drift, 2002; 73E Foyers, Solid, 1996; 74W Tomatin, Bedrock; Bedrock and Superficial, 2004; 74E Aviemore, Solid, 1993; Superficial, 2012; 75W Glenlivet, Solid, 1996; 65W Braemar, Solid, 1989

Details of the original geological surveys are listed on editions of the 1:63 360 and 1:50 000 Series geological sheets. Copies of the fair-drawn maps of these earlier surveys may be consulted at the BGS Library, Edinburgh.

Maps on 64E Ben Macdui Sheet

Original (Old Series) 1:10 560 maps Perthshire 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14

Aberdeenshire 76, 77, 87, 88, 96, 97, 104

Inverness-shire 88, 89, 103, 104, 118, 119, 133

Banffshire 47

The most recent bedrock maps at 1:10 000 and 1:25 000 scale covering the 1:50 000 Series Sheet 64E are listed below, together with the map name, surveyor’s initials and dates of the survey. The surveyors were B Beddoe-Stephens, A J Highton, S Robertson, C G Smith, M Smith, R A Smith, D Stephenson, M Krabbendam, A G Leslie, A Crane, and S Goodman. The maps are published for sale or are available for consultation at BGS libraries in Keyworth and Edinburgh and the BGS London Information Office.

1:10 000

NN97NW Carn a’ Chlamain BB-S, DS 1992–96

NN97NE Upper Glen Tilt DS, BB-S 1990–96

NN97SW Forest Lodge DS, BB-S, RAS 1974–95

NN97SE part Glen Loch DS, RAS, AGL 1974–96

NO07NW Carn an Righ DS, AGL, AC, SG, MK 1990–96

NO07SW Daldhu DS, SG, AGL, AC 1990–92

NO08NW part, Chest of Dee DS, CGS, AJH 1993–99

NO08SW part, Carn Bhac DS 1990–96

1:25 000

Other relevant data including that on 1:10k sheets (bedrock) have been compiled on the following 1:25 000 scale clean copies:-

Part of NH80/90 and NJ00/10 on northern Cairngorm Leisure map Part of NN89/99 and NO09/19 on southern Cairngorm Leisure map Part of NN88/98 Upper Glen Feshie

Part of NN87/97 Upper Glen Tilt

Maps on 64W Newtonmore Sheet

The most recent bedrock maps at the 1:10 000 and 1:25 000 scale covering the 1:50 000 Series Sheet 64W are listed below together with the sheet name, surveyor’s initials and dates of the survey. The surveyors were J E Cavill, T P Fletcher, A J Highton, M Krabbendam, A G Leslie, S Robertson, M Smith, R A Smith.

1:10 000

NH60SE A’Chaileach JEC, MS 1992–97

NH70SW Loch Gynack MS, RAS 1995–97

NH70SE Kingussie MS, RAS 1997–2004

NH80SW Loch Insch MS 1995–96

NN69NE Glen Banchor JEC, AJH, SR 1992–97

NN69SE Crubenmore SR, RAS 1997–2002

1:25 000

NN79 Glen Tromie MK, AGL 2002, with 1:10k parts TPF, AJH 1990–97

NN89 (part) Glen Feshie MK, AGL 2002

NN68 (part) Allt Cuaich MK, AGL 2002

NN78 Gaick Forest MK, AGL 2002

NN88 (part) An Eilrig MK, AGL 2002

NN67 (part) Dalnacardoch Forest MK, AGL 2002

NN77 (part) Dalnamein Forest MK, AGL 2002

NN87 (part) Bruar Water MK, AGL 2002

Digital geological map data

In addition to the printed publications noted above, many BGS maps are available in digital form, which allows the geological information to be used in GIS applications. These data must be licensed for use. Details are available from the Intellectual Property Rights Manager at BGS Keyworth. The main data sets are: DiGMapGB-625; DiGMapGB-250; DiGMapGB-50 and DiGMapGB-10

The current availability of theses can be checked on the BGS website at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/products/digitalmaps/digmap.html

Geophysical maps

1:1 500 000

Colour shaded relief gravity anomaly map of Britain, Ireland and adjacent areas, 1997. Colour shaded relief magnetic anomaly map of Britain, Ireland and adjacent areas, 1998.

1:250 000

Gravity and Magnetic maps corresponding to the 1:250 000 UK and Continental Shelf Areas (UTM Series) are available.

CD-Rom packages and plot-on-demand maps are also held which summarise graphically the publicly available geophysical information held by BGS for the sheets.

Regional Geochemical Atlases

1:250 000

East Grampian area 1991; Argyll 1990; Great Glen 1987

Hydrogeological maps

1:625 000

Sheet 18 (Scotland) 1988

Groundwater vulnerablity map of Scotland. 1995

4.2 BGS books

Memoirs and other books or reports relevant to the Newtonmore–Ben Macdui district are arranged by topic. Most are not widely available, but may be consulted at BGS and other libraries.

British regional geology

Stephenson, D and Gould, D. 1995. British regional geology: the Grampian Highlands (4th edition). London: HMSO for the British Geological Survey.)

Memoirs and sheet explanations (out of print)

Explanation of Sheet 64. The geology of Upper Strathspey, Gaick and the Forest of Atholl. 1913. Explanation of Sheet 74. The geology of mid-Strathspey and Strathdearn. 1915.

Explanation of Sheet 75. The geology of West Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, parts of Elgin and Inverness. 1896.

Explanation of Sheet 65. The geology of the districts of Braemar, Ballater and Glen Clova. 1912. Explanation of Sheet 55. The geology of the country round Blair Atholl, Pitlochry and Aberfeldy. 1905.

Explanation of Sheet 54. The geology of Corrour and the Moor of Rannoch. 1923.

Solid geology of the Schiehallion district (Sheet 55W), 2000

Geology of the Glen Shee district (Sheet 56W), 2002

Geology of the Glen Roy district (Sheet 63W), 1997

Geology of the Ballater district (Sheet 65E), 2002

Solid geology of the Aviemore district (Sheet 74E), 1999

4.3 BGS Documentary collections

Borehole record collection

BGS holds records of boreholes which can be consulted at BGS, Edinburgh, where copies of some records may be purchased. For the Newtonmore–Ben Macdui district the collection consists mainly of sites and logs close to the A9 road. Index information, which includes site references, for these boreholes has been digitised. The logs are either hand-written or typed and many of the older records are drillers logs.

Site exploration reports

This collection consists of records of site explorations carried out to investigate foundation conditions prior to construction. There is a digested index and the reports themselves have been digitally scanned or are on microfiche. For the Newtonmore–Ben Macdui district most investigations are in the vicinity of the A9.

Hydrogeological data

Records of a few water bores in the Spey and Tromie valleys are held at BGS, Edinburgh.

Geochemical data

Records of stream-sediment and other analyses are held at BGS, Keyworth.

Gravity and magnetic data

Records are held at BGS, Keyworth

Seismic data

Records of British earthquakes are held at BGS, Edinburgh.

4.4 BGS material collections

BGS photographs

Some 491 photographs illustrating aspects of the geology of the Newtonmore and Ben Macdui districts are deposited for reference at BGS libraries in Keyworth and Edinburgh, and in the BGS Information Office, London. They are also held digitally in a BGS Geoscience Imagebase. The photographs were taken at various times since the 1890s and depict mainly the geomorphology and Quaternary deposits. A list of titles can be supplied on request. Images can be supplied in a number of formats at various prices from the Photographic Department, BGS, Edinburgh.

Petrological collections

The petrological collections for the Newtonmore and Ben Macdui districts consist of hand specimens and thin sections. Many of the samples and thin sections are of the igneous rocks, but the metasedimentary rocks are also well represented. Information on databases of rock samples, thin sections and geochemical analyses can be obtained from the Mineralogy and Petrology Section, BGS, Edinburgh. Currently there are 537 samples in the BGS Britrocks database for Sheet 64 (excluding samples from the original survey).

References