Garabal Hill

Also within

Argyll and Bute CountyDunbartonshire CountyStirling and Falkirk County LochLomond National Park National Park Loch Lomond Scenic Area 06. Ben Lui Wild Land Area

Condition (NatureScot)

Geology & landscape

Landscape processes: Volcanic / Igneous

Description

GARABAL HILL Garabal Hill is located approximately 9 km to the south west of Crianlarich near the northern end of Loch Lomond. It contains exposures of parts of a large body of igneous rock, called the Garabal Hill - Glen Fyne Igneous Complex or Pluton. Plutonic rock, the term for coarse-grained igneous rock which has formed in a large body at depth in the Earth is distinctive for its wide range of component rock-types, which span the igneous compositional spectrum from ultrabasic to acidic rocks. The Garabal Hill section of this Complex is of the highest importance because of the variety of igneous rocks outcropping in a fairly small area. It is world famous as the subject of classic pioneering geochemical studies on the possible role of fractional crystallisation in reconciling widely diverse rock-types into a single petrogenetic model. This well-exposed site includes all the principal variants of the intrusive complex and is of international importance for research purposes.