Rubha Camas na Cailinn

Also within

Ross and Cromarty County Knoydart Scenic Area 18. Kinlochhourn - Knoydart - Morar Wild Land Area

Condition (NatureScot)

Description

Rubha Camas na Cailinn Rubha Camas na Cailinn Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) lies on the northern shore of Loch Hourn adjoining the Sound of Sleat. Exposures of an area of rock called the Glenelg Inlier are found here. The Glenelg Inlier is an exposed area of ancient rocks called Lewisian gneisses surrounded by much younger metamorphic rocks belonging to the Moine Supergroup, which are the rocks that underlie much of the Northern Highlands. A major zone of shearing runs roughly north-south through the Glenelg Inlier and because the gneisses on either side exhibit different characteristics they are termed the Eastern and Western Units. This SSSI contains rocks of the Western Unit, from the southern edge of the Glenelg Inlier, and includes thin strips of Lewisian rock within the more abundant Moine. Compositional banding in the Lewisian and Moine rocks is parallel and the fine scale inter-fingering of Moine and Lewisian rocks is the result of tight isoclinal folds. These are interpreted as the result of the first phase of the rocks’ deformation history, and have been modified by later folding resulting in a complex interference fold geometry. This site is crucial in aiding an understanding of the structural history of the Glenelg Inlier and is of national and international importance as an example of infolding of crystalline basement (Lewisian) and sedimentary cover (Moine) on a very fine scale under high-grade metamorphic conditions (high pressure and temperature).