NW
of the Cairngorms
SW of the Cairngorms
SE
of the Cairngorms
Upper Glen Tromie - Moine psammites
Country Rocks
The Cairngorm Granite has been intruded into metamorphic rocks belonging to two groups: the Moine and the Dalradian (Johnstone, 1981).
- Moine rocks are former sandstones, now metamorphosed into quartz-feldspar-granulites. This groups tends to be pale grey, brown or pink in colour. The rocks are layered or flaggy, reflecting both the original bedding in the sediment and a banding from later metamorphic minerals
- Dalradian rocks are younger and more varied. They include quartzites, mica schists, black schists and marbles. The mica schists and black schists are often fissile, with a marked schistosity resulting from the parallel alignment of platy mica crystals.
Metamorphism dates from around 500 Myr when the original sediments were buried at depths of 5-20 km beneath the ancient Caledonian mountain range.
