Description:
The authors provide an overview of the geology of East Sutherland and Caithness together with guides to geological excursions. This area contains many excellent localities popular for instructional field courses and recreational visits to view the geology and to collect fossils. The area is also popular with the oil industry as an onshore analogue for several offshore oilfield reservoirs.

Excursions to the Devonian Old Red Sandstone of Caithness cover the major features of the Caithness Flagstones from the marginal unconformities, through fluvial, aeolian and playa deposits to the deep lake laminites with world famous fossil fish faunas. In the Golspie - Brora – Helmsdale area the Jurassic succession adjacent to the Helmsdale Fault is demonstrated; particularly the famous Helmsdale Boulder beds deposited beside an active submarine fault scarp. A further attraction is the opportunity to pan for gold at Kildonan.

This guide updates the edition of 1993, and includes new material. The book is copiously illustrated with colour photographs and diagrams.


Nigel Trewin and Andrew Hurst are professors of geology at Aberdeen University and have published many research papers on the geology and fossils of the area.. They have led many field excursions to the area for university classes, the oil industry and for geological societies.