Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:43:39.779Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Provenance of the Old Red Sandstone: Pb isotope evidence from Arran, western Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

A. P. Dickin
A. P. Dickin
Affiliation:
Isotope Geology Unit, Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 OQU, Scotland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Old Red Sandstone sediments from Arran in western Scotland yield an array of Pb isotope compositions whose slope corresponds to an age of 1830 ± 400 Ma. These compositions are not consistent with a significant contribution of material from the Southern Highlands, Midland Valley, or Southern Uplands, but are similar to the Torridonian sandstones of NW Scotland. Bearing in mind the probable Laxfordian provenance of the Torridonian assemblage, this points to a source for the Old Red Sandstone in a crustal block of early Proterozoic age corresponding to the age of the Laxfordian episode. Since such a source is not presently in a position to yield the Old Red Sandstone, strike-slip movement along the Highland Boundary fault is a strong possibility.

Keywords

Caledonian graniteDalradian SupergroupHighland Boundary faultKnoydartianLaxfordianMidland Valleysandstonestrike-slipTorridonian
Type
Midland Valley
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 75 , Issue 2: Deep Geology of the Midland Valley of Scotland and Adjacent Regions. Bicentenary Symposium , 1984 , pp. 239 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bennison, G. M. & Wright, A. E. 1969. The geological history of the British Isles. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Blaxland, A. B., Aftalion, M. & van Breemen, O. 1979. Pb isotopie composition of feldspars from Scottish Caledonian granites, and the nature of the underlying crust. SCOTT J GEOL 15, 139–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1984. Pre-Carboniferous history of the Midland Valley of Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH: EARTH SCI 75, 275–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G. B., Bluck, B. J., Burton, C. J., Ingham, J. K., Siveter, D. J. & Williams, A. 1984. Age, evolution and tectonic history of the Highland Border Complex, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH EARTH SCI 75, 113–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickin, A. P. & Exley, R. A. 1981. Isotopie and geochemical evidence for magma mixing in the petrogenesis of the Coire Uaigneich Granophyre, Isle of Skye, N.W. Scotland. CONTRIB MINERAL PETROL 76, 98–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickin, A. P., Moorbath, S. & Welke, H. 1981. Isotope, trace element and major element geochemistry of Tertiary igneous rocks, Isle of Arran, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH: EARTH SCI 72, 159–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moorbath, S., Stewart, A. D., Lawson, D. E. & Williams, G. E. 1967. Geochronological studies on the Torridonian sediments of north-west Scotland. SCOTT J GEOL 3, 389–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. 1983. Isotope geochemistry and origin of calc-alkaline lavas from a Caledonian continental margin volcanic arc. J VOLCANOL GEOTHERM RES 18, 589–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Breemen, O. & Bluck, B. J. 1981. Episodic granite plutonism in the Scottish Caledonides. NATURE 291, 113–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar