Arthur’s Seat

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Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, Edinburgh - an excursion

From: Lothian geology and excursion guide. Edited by A.D. McAdam and E.N.K. Clarkson. 1996

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Arthur's Seat

OS 1:50 000 Sheet 66 Edinburgh BGS 1:50 000 Sheet 32E Edinburgh BGS 1:25 000 Edinburgh Special Sheet

About a kilometre from the city centre. the remnants of the long-extinct volcano of Arthur's Seat rise from the low ground on which Edinburgh is built. Part of the volcano has been lost through erosion and part has been buried under younger rocks; enough. however. is exposed to allow us to study the vulcanicity in some detail. especially as the removal of much of the superstructure has laid bare the internal parts of the volcano. The largest volcanic remnant lies within the Holyrood Park where it culminates in Arthur's Seat (251 m). the hill from which the volcano takes its name. To the north and west smaller remnants build the Calton Hill and the Castle Rock (p. 52). The volcano was active in the Dinantian, early in the Carboniferous Period, and the products of its first eruption are taken to mark the top of the Cementstone Group. The lavas are covered by the oldest sedimentary member of the succeeding Lower Oil-Shale Group. the Abbeyhill Shales.

To be continued