The limestones of Scotland

The limestones of Scotland [Volume 1]

By T. Robertson, B.Sc., Ph.D., A.Inst.M.M., J. B. Simpson, D.Sc. and J. G. C. Anderson, M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc. with contributions by D. Haldane, B.Sc. and J. Knox, B.Sc.

Memoirs of the Geological Survey. Special Reports one the Mineral Resources of Great Britain Vol. 35

Edinburgh: His Majesty's Stationery Office

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Geological Survey of Great Britain

His Majesty's Stationery Office 1949

(Front cover)

Preface

An investigation of the limestone resources of Scotland has been proposed for many years, but the ease with which supplies could for most purposes be imported from England and Wales was such that there was no sense of urgency. In 1939, however, when war conditions supervened, and it became obvious that local supplies of lime or limestone for agricultural and other work would be invaluable, the investigation was pressed forward. The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research was at that time under the direction of Dr. W. G. Ogg, who agreed very willingly to co-operate with the Geological Survey by having all the necessary chemical work done in the laboratories of the Institute, by Dr. A. Muir and Mr. A. G. M. Hardie.

All the limestones of known importance and most others of potential value were examined or re-examined in the field;; and a series of pamphlets (Wartime Pamphlet No. 13, Parts I to VIII) was published giving a description of the character, occurrence, distribution and accessibility of every limestone which might conceivably be of economic value. These descriptions were accompanied by records of the analyses done at the Macaulay Institute.

Most of the samples for analysis were selected by Survey Officers to represent the bulk composition of the limestone that would be obtained during commercial exploitation. In the case of working quarries and mines, sampling was at all times facilitated by the ready co-operation of the owners and lessees, and we record with pleasure our thanks for their assistance.

As this work progressed it became obvious that a more general geological discussion of its results would be advantageous; for the local and very detailed treatment adopted in the pamphlets was primarily designed to show where in any given district limestone was available, and to indicate which of the former sources of limestone had been worked out, were no longer accessible, or were not of sufficiently good quality to be worth working under modern conditions.

The preparation of this general account of Scottish limestone resources has been in charge of Dr. T. Robertson. The treatment is on a county basis, and the following authors are responsible for the most important county descriptions: Dr. Robertson for Fife (with Mr. D. Haldane), Inverness (Islands), Renfrew, Ross and Cromarty (with Mr. J. Knox), Shetland (with Mr. D. Haldane), Stirling, Sutherland (with Mr. J. Knox), West Lothian: Dr. Simpson for Ayr, Dumfries, East Lothian, Lanark, Midlothian, Peebles, Roxburgh; Dr. Anderson for Aberdeen, Argyll, Banff, Caithness, Inverness (Mainland). Perth.

W. F. P. Mclintock.

Director, Geological Survey Office, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, S.W.7 December, 1998

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Stratigraphical distribution

Chapter 3 Industrial uses

Agriculture, Building Industry, Cement, Chemical and Allied Industries, Dolomite, Iron and Steel Manufacture, Marble, Roadstone, Rock Wool, Stone-Dusting in Coal Mines, Annual Production

Chapter 4 Lithological characteristics

Sedimentary Limestone, Sedimentary Dolomite, Metamorphic Limestone, Metamorphic Dolomite, Contact-altered Limestone and Dolomite, Calcite and Dolomite Veins, Specific Gravity of Limestones and Dolomites

Chapter 5 Chemical characteristics

Introduction

Dolomitization

Characteristics of Stratigraphical Formations

Lewisian, Moine Series, Shetland Metamorphic Series, Dalradian Series, Metamorphic Limestones of Doubtful Age, Cambrian and Ordovician (N.W. Scotland), Ordovician (S.W. Scotland), Old Red Sandstone, Calciferous Sandstone Series, Lower Limestone Group, Upper Limestone Group, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Recent, Dolomitic Fault-Breccia, Calcite Veins

Chapter 6 Detailed description of resources

Aberdeen

Deeside Limestone, Blair Atholl Limestones, Unclassified Limestones of Upper Donside, and of Central and North-Eastern Aberdeenshire, Limestones of North-Western Aberdeenshire

Argyll

Dalradian

Loch Tay Limestone, Shira Limestone, Tayvallich Limestones, Appin Limestone, Lismore Limestone, Islay Limestone

Jurassic Limestones and Shell Sand

Ayr

Ordovician

Old Red Sandstone

Carboniferous

Dailly and district, Patna, Dalmellington and Martnaham, New Cumnock, Cumnock and Muirkirk, Glenbuck, Sorn and Catrine, North Ayrshire ; Beith, Dalry and Kilwinning

Banff

Sandend Group, Portsoy Group, Boyne Limestone

Berwick

Bute

Caithness

Clackmannan

Dumbarton

Dumfries

Thornhill, Annan : Kelhead to Waterbeck, Liddesdale

East Lothian

Aberlady to East Saltoun, East Saltoun district, North Berwick to Kidlaw, Dunbar district

Fife

Oil Shale Group

Lower Limestone Group

Charlestown to Dunfermline, Carnock to Roscobie, Inverkeithing to Loch Gelly and Kirkcaldy, Lomond Hills district, Cults, Ceres and Largo Ward

Inverness (Mainland)

South-East of the Great Glen

Ballachulish Limestone, Kinlochlaggan Limestone, Mid-Strathspey Limestones

North-West of the Great Glen

Inverness (Islands)

Cambrian Limestones, Jurassic Limestones, Shell Sand

Skye

Cambrian Limestone, Jurassic Limestone, Coralline Sand

Raasay

Small Isles

Outer Hebrides

Kincardine

Deeside Limestone, Highland Boundary Fault-rock

Kinross

Kirkcudbright

Lanark

Robroyston to Bedlay, East Kilbride to Quarter, Strathaven to Carluke, Carluke to Wilsontown, Central and South Lanark Lesmahagow, Douglas, etc.

Midlothian

Old Red Sandstone and Calciferous Sandstone Series

Burdiehouse Limestone

Carboniferous Limestone Series

District West of Pentland Hills, West Side of Midlothian Coalfield, East Side of Midlothian Coalfield

Moray and Nairn

Orkney

Peebles

Perth

Loch Tay Limestone, Blair Atholl Limestones, Limestones close to the Highland Boundary Fault,

Renfrew

Ross and Cromarty

Roxburgh

Liddesdale, South and South-East of Hawick, Kelso district

Selkirk

Shetland

Stirling

Sutherland

Durness Limestone

Stratigraphical Succession

Chert

Composition.

Distribution

Durness and Eireboll, Assynt

Shiness Limestone

West Lothian

Wigtown

Bibliography

List of quarries and mines working limestone in 1947

Index

Figures and plates

Figure 1 Histograms showing percentages of magnesium carbonate in analysed Scottish limestones

Figure 2 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the counties of Aberdeen and Kincardine

Figure 3 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the counties of Argyll and Bute

Figure 4 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the Loch Awe and Loch Fyne districts of Argyll

Figure 5 Sketch map showing distribution of the Islay Limestone

Figure 6 Sketch map showing main areas (black) of the Carboniferous Limestone deposits of Ayrshire

Figure 7 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the Girvan district of Ayrshire

Figure 8 Vertical Section of the worked limestones in the Carboniferous of Ayrshire

Figure 9 Sketch map showing main distribution of limestone in east-central Ayrshire

Figure 10 Sketch map showing main distribution of limestone in the Dalry, Beith and Stewarton districts of Ayrshire

Figure 11 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in Banffshire

Figure 12 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the Keith-Dufftown district of Banffshire

Figure 13 Sketch map showing calcareous deposits of Caithness

Figure 14 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Roxburgh

Figure 15 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in East Lothian

Figure 16 Vertical Section of the limestones of the Lower Limestone Group of East Lothian

Figure 17 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the Carboniferous of the counties of Fife and Kinross

Figure 18 Vertical Section of the limestones of the Lower Limestone Group of Fife

Figure 19 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the mainland portion of Inverness-shire

Figure 20 Sketch map of the Ballachulish Limestone in the Fort William--Spean Bridge district of Inverness-shire

Figure 21 Sketch map showing the limestone of the Kinlochlaggan district of Inverness-shire

Figure 22 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in Skye and the adjacent mainland

Figure 23 Sketch map showing the Cambrian and Jurassic limestones in south-eastern Skye

Figure 24 Sketch map showing calcareous deposits in the Hebrides and north-western Skye

Figure 25 Sketch map showing main areas (black) of limestone in Lanarkshire

Figure 26 Vertical Section of the limestones in the Lower Limestone Group and at the top of the Calciferous Sandstone Series of Lanarkshire

Figure 27 Sketch map showing main distribution of limestone in the eastern part of Midlothian and adjacent parts of Peebleshire and East Lothian

Figure 28 Vertical Section of the limestones of the Lower Limestone Group of Midlothian

Figure 29 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the counties of Moray and Nairn

Figure 30 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in Perthshire

Figure 31 Sketch map showing the Loch Tay Limestone in the Killin district of Perthshire

Figure 32 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the counties of Renfrew and Dumbarton

Figure 33 Vertical Section of the limestones in the Lower Limestone Group and at the top of the Calciferous Sandstone Series of Renfrewshire

Figure 34 Vertical Section of the limestones in the Upper Limestone Group of Renfrewshire

Figure 35 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in Ross and Cromarty

Figure 36 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone and shell sand in Shetland

Figure 37 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the counties of Stirling and Dumbarton (detached)

Figure 38 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in Sutherland

Figure 39 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the Durness district of Sutherland

Figure 40 Sketch map showing distribution of limestone in the Loch Eireboll district of Sutherland

Figure 41 Sketch map showing distribution of Carboniferous limestones in West Lothian and the western part of Midlothian

Figure 42 Vertical Section of the limestones in the Upper Limestone Group of West Lothian

Figure 43 Section of the Burdiehouse Limestone in the Pumpherston area (see line of section in Figure 41)

Plates

Plate 1 Stronechrubie Cliff, Inchnadamph, Sutherland-shire. Thrust mass of Durness dolomite and limestone

Plate 2 Map of the main occurrences of limestone in Scotland.

Plate 3A Hessilhead Quarry, Lugton, Ayrshire. General view of quarry in the Dockra Limestone.

Plate 3B Same quarry, nearer view of face showing arching of strata, bedding and jointing.

Plate 4A Parkmore Quarry, Dufftown, Banffshire. General view of quarry, showing primary and secondary crushers.

Plate 4B Limehillock Quarry, Grange, Banffshire. View of part of face, showing dip of beds of limestone.

Plate 5A Carleith Quarry, Galston, Ayrshire. Quarry in cornstone of Upper Old Red Sandstone age, illustrating the concretionary nature of the rock.

Plate 5B Shore at Catcraig, east of Dunbar. Surface of the Long Craig Middle Limestone, largely composed of the coral Lithostrotion junceum.

Plate 6A Middleton Quarry and Mine, Gorebridge, Midlothian. The mine is developed in the lower part of the North Greens Limestone.

Plate 6B Interior view of the mine, illustrating the stoop and room (pillar and stall) method of extraction

Plate 7A Drummuir Quarry, Banffshire. General view of quarry, showing method of working in two benches and dip of beds of limestone.

Plate 7B Creag Odhar, Shierglas, Blair Atholl, Perthshire. General view showing hill of limestone to left and crushing plant.

The limestones of Scotland: chemical analyses and petrography [Volume 2]

Special reports on the mineral resources of Great Britain vol. 34

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Memoirs of the Geological Survey

Chemical analyses by A. Muir, B.Sc., Ph.D. and H. G. M. Hardie, Ph.D., A.R.I.C.

Spectrographic determinations of trace elements by R. L. Mitchell, B.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.I.C., at the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research

Petrography by J. Phemister, M.A., D.Sc.

Edinburgh: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1956

Crown copyright reserved

Published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office

To be purchased from 13A Castle Street, Edinburgh 2 York House, Kingsway, London W.C.2 423 Oxford Street, London W.1 P.O. Box 569, London S.E.1 109 St. Mary Street, Cardiff 39 King Street, Manchester 2 Tower Lane, Bristol 2 Edmund Street, Birmingham 380 Chichester Street, Belfast or through any bookseller. Price £1 1s. 0d. net.

Printed in Great Britain under the authority of Her Majesty's Stationery Office by Pickering & Inglis Ltd., Glasgow

Note: This 2021 version has an additional section linking specimens to available images

(Front cover)

(Rear cover)

Contents Volume 2

Preface

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2 The petrographical examination of limestones and dolomites and the complementary relation of petrographical and chemical study

References

Chapter 3 Methods of analysis

Chemical analysis, Spectrographic determinations,. References

Chapter 4 Tables of chemical analyses of scottish limestones and spectrographic determinations of trace elements

Lewisian, Moine, Shetland Metamorphic Series, Dalradian, Lower Cambrian, Cambro-Ordovician, Ordovician, Old Red Sandstone, Calciferous Sandstone Series, Carboniferous Limestone Series, Coal Measures, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Recent, Vein

Chapter 5 The petrographical classification of limestones and dolomites

Glossary of terms used in the petrographical designations, References

Chapter 6. Petrographical descriptions of Scottish limestones

Locality index

Subject index

Illustrations

Plates

Plate 1 Photomicrographs of metamorphic limestones

Plate 2 Photomicrographs of structures of limestones

Plate 3 Photomicrographs of clastizoic limestones and calcilutites

Plate 4 Photomicrographs of dolomites

Preface

An investigation of the limestone resources of Scotland was undertaken in 1939 by the Geological Survey; all limestones of known importance and most others of potential value were examined or re-examined in the field. Samples to represent the bulk composition of the stone which would be obtained in commercial exploitation were collected, mostly by Survey officers, and chemical analyses were made by the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research. As the work progressed a series of pamphlets —Wartime Pamphlet No. 13, Parts I to VIII—was issued showing the results of the analyses done at the Macaulay Institute and giving brief notes on the character, occurrence, distribution and accessibility of every limestone which might be of economic value. The edition was a small one and most parts of the pamphlet are now out of print.

A more general and systematic discussion of the results of the investigation was prepared after the war and published in 1949 as a memoir 'The Limestones of Scotland', forming volume XXXV of the series of Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of Great Britain. In this memoir the stratigraphical range of limestones and dolomites in Scotland, and their general chemical characteristics in relation to each major geological series or formation were described, and details of the limestone and dolomite resources, arranged on a county basis, were given. The present volume is supplementary to that memoir and records the chemical analyses and the petrographical descriptions of the rocks studied during the investigation. Its preparation was put in hand and editing begun by Mr. T. H. Whitehead when Assistant Director in Scotland; later, Dr. J. Phemister has acted as editor. Save for a few carried out in the Geological Survey laboratory by Mr. C. O. Harvey and Mr. W. F. Waters and some early analyses by the late Dr. W. Pollard, the chemical analyses are by Dr. A. Muir and Dr. H. G. M. Hardie of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research. Dr. Hardie has also contributed a chapter on the methods of chemical analysis. The spectrographic analyses of trace elements were made at the Macaulay Institute by Dr. R. L. Mitchell who has also furnished notes on the methods and results. The petrographical chapters and detailed descriptions are by Dr. J. Phemister.

W. J. Pugh, Director. Geological Survey Office, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, S.W.7