The Dalradian rocks of the Highland Border region of Scotland

The Highland Border region is defined here by the outcrop of the Southern Highland Group that lies north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault and runs from Stonehaven south-west to the Isle of Bute, and thence to the Campbeltown peninsula. The late-Neoproterozoic to early-Ordovician rocks of the Dalradian Supergroup in this region form a stratigraphical and structural entity that encompasses the >300 km-long surface traces of both the Tay Nappe (D1–D2) and the Highland Border Downbend (D4). The least deformed and metamorphosed Southern Highland Group rocks occur along the south-east margin of the region and are in continuity with the younger, newly recognized Trossachs Group, which has therefore been assigned to the Dalradian Supergroup. The earliest (D1) structures in the Dalradian rocks are dominant close to the Highland Boundary Fault but are successively overprinted northwards by D2, D3 and D4 structures and fabrics, here represented by a series of zones near-parallel to the Highland Boundary. Regional metamorphism increases progressively away from the Highland Boundary Fault and ranges from greenschist to upper amphibolite facies (sillimanite zone). Three fundamental features of deformed and regionally metamorphosed rocks worldwide were first recognized in this area: the ‘stretching lineation’ by Clough in 1897; the concept of regional metamorphic ‘Barrovian zones’ by Barrow in 1901; and the ‘facing direction’ of folds by Shackleton in 1958. The Highland Border region has acquired international recognition for research undertaken into the origin and mode of emplacement of the Tay Nappe, one of the largest recumbent folds known worldwide. This structure provides a framework for linking together most of the GCR sites in this paper

The Dalradian rocks of the central Grampian Highlands of Scotland

The central Grampian Highlands, as defined here, are bounded to the north-west by the Great Glen Fault, to the south-west by Loch Etive and the Pass of Brander Fault and to the south-east by the main outcrop of the Loch Tay Limestone Formation. The more arbitrary northern boundary runs north-west along the A9 road and westwards to Fort William. The detailed stratigraphy of the Dalradian Supergroup ranges from the uppermost Grampian Group through to the top of the Argyll Group, most notably seen in the two classic areas of Loch Leven–Appin and Schiehallion–Loch Tay; Southern Highland Group strata are preserved only in a small structural inlier south of Glen Lyon. Major F1 and F2 folds are complicated by co-axial northeast-trending F3 and F4 folding, as well as by locally important north- or NW-trending folds. In the Loch Leven area, nappe-like F1 folds verge to the north-west, whereas to the south-east the major recumbent F1/F2 Tay Nappe verges to the south-east. The trace of the upright Loch Awe Syncline lies between the opposing nappes, but in this region a large mass of late-Caledonian granitic rocks obscures their mutual relationship. Three tectonic ‘slides’ are identified that are certainly zones of high strain but which in part could be obscuring stratigraphical variations. The regional metamorphism ranges from greenschist facies on the western seaboard of Argyll to amphibolite facies in most of the remainder of the region. The study of garnets, together with kyanite and staurolite in the Schiehallion area, has enabled a detailed history of the metamorphism and structure to be unravelled. Stratabound mineralization occurs in the Easdale Subgroup, where there is also evidence of changes of sedimentary environment associated with volcanicity and lithospheric stretching. The region is dissected by a series of NE-trending, dominantly left-lateral, faults, subparallel to the Great Glen Fault, whose movement history is illustrated here by that of the Tyndrum Fault

The Dalradian rocks of the north-east Grampian Highlands of Scotland

The north-east Grampian Highlands, as described here, are bounded to the north-west by the Grampian Group outcrop of the northern Grampian Highlands and to the south by the Southern Highland Group\ud outcrop in the Highland Border region. The Dalradian succession therefore encompasses the whole of the Appin and Argyll groups, but also includes an extensive outlier of Southern Highland Group strata in the north of the region. The succession includes shallow-marine sequences, glacigenic deposits at two stratigraphical levels, the earliest evidence for volcanism in the Dalradian, a later major development of basaltic and picritic sub-marine lavas, and thick turbiditic sequences. In the south, the Grampian–Appin group boundary is a high-strain zone, with no obvious dislocation or stratigraphical excision, which was formerly termed the Boundary Slide. Shear-zones at higher structural levels are associated with pre-tectonic granites, such as the Ben Vuirich Granite, which have been dated at c. 600 Ma and hence place limits on the timing of sedimentation, deformation and metamorphism. The region is divided from north to south by a major zone of shearing and dislocation with associated igneous intrusions, termed the Portsoy Lineament. To the west of the lineament, the stratigraphy is more-or-less continuous along strike with that of the central Grampian Highlands. D1, D2 and D3 structures extend from the Tummel Steep Belt north-eastwards throughout this area. The stratigraphical succession is broadly continuous across the Portsoy Lineament but to the east, in the Buchan Block, correlations are more tenuous and do not extend below subgroup level. High-grade migmatitic paragneisses were once interpreted as pre-Dalradian basement but they are now assigned to the Crinan Subgroup, within the Dalradian succession. Within the Buchan Block the outcrop pattern is controlled by two broad, open, post-metamorphic folds, the Turriff Syncline and the Buchan Anticline. The Buchan Block is the international type area for the high-temperature/low-pressure Buchan-type regional metamorphism. To the south and west, this passes into higher pressure Barrovian-type metamorphism. South of Deeside, metamorphic conditions reached 820 8C and over 8 kbar, well into granulite facies and the highest recorded in the Grampian Terrane. The detailed relationship between the high heat-flow and the emplacement of large bodies of basic and silicic magma is a matter of ongoing research. Plutons of the north-east Grampian Basic Suite, emplaced at c. 474–470 Ma, during or shortly after the peak of metamorphism and the D3 deformation, provide key evidence for the timing of the Grampian orogenic event