Bronze moldings depicting early geologists evolving their theory on the Moine Thrust at the Knockan Crag site. SCO 9904.


Knockan Visitor Centre provides a visitor attraction that interprets the ‘big picture’ of the landscape at Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve and surrounding area. The Moine Thrust Zone consists of a series of easterly dipping thrusts that separate the Moine rocks of the Northwest Highlands from the predominantly Lewisian rocks of the Hebridean Craton. The Moine Thrust itself is the oldest and highest of these thrusts and runs from Loch Eriboll on the north coast, SSE along the west coast of the Northern Highlands, before continuing along the southeast coast of the Isle of Skye and the west coast of the Isle of Mull. Ascending Knockan Crag, Cambrian rocks are found overlain by the older Moine rocks. The Cambrian rocks consist of Pipe Rock, Fucoid Beds, Salterella Grits and Durness limestone – all in stratigraphic sequence. Overlying the Durness limestone are the dark schists of the Moine. These rocks are Precambrian in age. At the thrust plane, the Durness limestone shows evidence of crushing, and the Moine rocks have been altered to mylonites. This is perhaps the simplest exposure of the Moine Thrust to be found in the region.


Size: 6064px × 4035px
Location: Knockan Crag, Drumrunie, Elphin, Sutherland. North West. Scotland. UK.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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