The Paleocene Igneous Rocks of the Isle of Rum, Inner Hebrides

Rum, the largest of the Small Isles, is a National Nature Reserve, owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage since 1957; it has several geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Rum is justly renowned for the ultrabasic cumulate magmas of its Eastern and Western Layered Intrusions of Paleocene age. Less well-known are the equally spectacular sidewall and roof contacts of the magma chamber, together with examples, rare in the geological column, of sequences through the caldera floor of the Rum volcano and the overlying volcano-sedimentary infill (with ignimbrites).

The nine excursions in this A5-sized guide, each colour coded for easy reference, highlight all of the above and also illustrate the complex contacts of the Lewisian and thick Torridonian successions with Paleocene rocks, a feather-edge Triassic succession and Jurassic fault slivers, as well as a plant-bearing Paleocene sequence of lavas and conglomerates that demonstrates very rapid intra-Paleocene unroofing of the Rum Igneous Complex.

A comprehensive summary of Rum geology and an extensive reference list complement the photographs, diagrams and integrated location and geological maps, all in colour.

Readership: Professional geologists, informed amateur geologists, undergraduate students, visitors to Rum.

Dimensions: 210 x 148mm.