Thursday 30 August 2012

U3A Geology group sets out for Glen Brittle but finishes up at Talisker Bay

On 4th April 2012 four of us met at Carbost with the intention of travelling to Glen Brittle to check out signs of glaciation. I don't really remember why that didn't happen and why we suddenly found ourselves on the road to Talisker Bay. Perhaps it was another case of alien possession. We had been to Talisker Bay before in a failed attempt to find the ropey lava, so maybe there was also some sort of subconscious unresolved karmic resonance going on. Anhow, we failed once again as no one had thought to ask what the tide might be doing. It was in and the road to the holy grail was blocked.

Dithering


Ignominious retreat


Water eroding basalt cliff through eons of time.


 No one knew what this was.





Perhaps at low tide it would be possible to get a closer look at the red mineral. Do the horizontal cracks in the upper part of the cliff delineate separate lava flows, each approximately 5 meters deep?


Preshal Mor, which could be a volcanic plug or a lava lake; probably the latter as I don't think there were any volcanos in this area. There appear to be 2 sections, the lower one comprising basalt columns, formed as extruded lava cooled relatively rapidly, giving rise to cooling joints perpendicualr to the surface of the flow, and the upper one seemingly diffuse. 
There are some marvellous images of hexagonal rock columns on the twin hill Preshal Beg at the link below. Maybe if we ever go to Talisker Bay again we could focus on exploring the slopes of Preshal Mor?