IV.—On the Ballantrae Rocks of South Scotland and their Place in the Upland Sequence

Abstract

On the extreme north-west flank of the Lower Palæozoic region of the Southern Uplands of Scotland there occurs a remarkable coastal area of stratified, igneous and altered rocks, known to geologists as the “Ballantrae Rocks,” from the little fishing town of Ballantrae, which is built upon them. They range along the shores of the Firth of Clyde for a distance of about 12 miles, and are well displayed in section in a series of rugged cliffs cut through by the picturesque coast road between Ballantrae and Girvan. The area they occupy nowhere exceeds five miles in width, and is limited inland by the smoother regions floored by the barren greywackés of the Uplands and the fossiliferous strata of the Girvan district, but this inland boundary is everywhere curiously broken and irregular.