The History Of Dissent In Assynt
CREDIT: © Rob Butler*, Clare Gordon*, Maarten Krabbendam+, Luke Bateson+
Earth.Leeds.ac.uk *Earth Sciences, University of Leeds; +British Geological Society
WHERE: Assynt, Scotland. WHAT: birthplace of plate tectonics.
MAP: Knockan. Thumbnail clicks [1][2] pop-up source pages.

Just eleven miles north of the harbor town of Ullapool, on Scotland's wild northwest coast, lies a hill named Knockan Crag. In May of this year, Anne and Andrew Leaney from Leaney.org visited the area to hike among the hills, and you may enjoy a virtual [1] visit, along with [2] Suilven, [3] Sandwood Bay, [4] Kylesku and Lochinver, which were all on the itinerary. Just looking at hiking pictures tells you that something quirky has been going on around here, geologically speaking that is.

The Highlands Controversy was an academic debate in nineteenth century geology, which centered around the structure of Scotland's Northwest Highlands. John Horne and Ben Peach provided the explanation that is accepted today. The work they did had far reaching implications for the way we understand geological plate movement and mountain building. We honor them with this picture, which shows them not far from Knockan, resplendent in 1912 gentlemen's walking kit.

Enquiring minds will enjoy a thorough exploration of Rob Butler's Assynt Geology web site. Lorraine Wakefield's piece on the TravelScotland.co.uk web site makes a good introduction, and Scottish Natural Heritage's Knockan-Crag.co.uk is a wholly dedicated web site. The ScottishGeology.com web site has research resources.

CREDIT: © Andrew Leaney/Leaney.org

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