The Old Red Sandstone at Crawton, Aberdeenshire

This course is now sold out, if you would like to be added to the waiting list please email bethany@pesgb.org.uk 

Led by Simon Gould, Mearns Geoscience

This fieldtrip will examine the section at Crawton on the Aberdeenshire coast. The gently dipping coastal exposures allow inspection of the interaction between basaltic lava flows and fluvial conglomerates of the early Devonian Dunnotar-Crawton Group. The conglomerates are extremely coarse-grained, containing boulder-sized clasts within a coarse-grained, sandy matrix. Within the conglomerates, sandy barforms and channel fills are occasionally seen. Four basaltic lava flows punctuate the sequence, and are characterised by large, lath shaped phenocrysts of feldspar, and vesicles filled with calcite and quartz cements. Good examples of columnar jointing are also seen in vertical and bedding plane sections. Overlying the lavas, conglomerates and sandstones of the Abuthnott-Garvock group are exposed in a cliff section, allowing inspection of the lateral and vertical architecture of this coarse-grained alluvial system. Crawton is located 5 miles south of Stonehaven, just off the A92. The fieldtrip will examine exposures within the bay, and the walking distance covered will be less than a mile. Some localities require accent and decent of short, steep, grassy cliff slopes. In addition, rocks within the intertidal zone on the beach may be slippery. The trip would be of interest to those working on continental alluvial reservoirs in the subsurface, but is mainly intended as an informal trip to discuss some of the local geology of Aberdeenshire.

Relevant to upcoming 31^st Licensing Round – East Shetland Platform

8.45: Arrival at Harbour car park, Stonehaven

9.00-11.30: Visiting Crawton outcrops

11.45: Return to Stonehaven Harbour car park

12.00-1.30: Complementary lunch at Marine Hotel