Alan McKirdy – författare

The land that was to become Scotland has travelled across the globe over the last 3,000 million years - from close to the South Pole to its current position. During these travels, there were many continental collisions, creating mountain belts as high as the present-day Himalayas. The Highlands of Scotland were formed in this way. Our climate too has changed dramatically over the last 3 billion years from the deep freeze of the Ice Age to scorching heat of the desert. And within a relatively short time - geologically speaking, we will plunge back into another ice age.In Set in Stone, Alan McKirdy traces Scotland's amazing geological journey, explaining for the non - specialist reader why the landscape looks the way it does todays. He also explores Scots and those working in Scotland have played a seminal role in the development of the science of geology, understanding Earth processes at a local and global scale.

The Isle of Arran dominates the Firth of Clyde. A favourite haunt of holidaymakers, it is also a place of fascination for the geologist, offering a huge variety of rocks that represent a massive slice through geological time. From the ancient bent and buckled strata of Dalradian - a small fragment of the roots of the once mighty Scottish Highlands - the dramatic Northern mountains through which ice gouged its way during the Ice Age, to the relatively recent (some 60 million years ago!) rocks associated with the Arran volcano, the geological record tells an amazing tale. This book is a fascinating introduction to the landscape of Arran - one of the significant geological areas of the country.

The geology of the Cairngorms was created on a timeline that stretches back hundreds of millions of years. Much of the land is underlain by granite that formed deep within the Earth's crust and 'surfaced' as the overlying layers of rock were stripped away by ice, wind and water.The bedrock is hard, and although the area has been heavily glaciated, still boasts 18 Munros, the highest of Scotland's peaks. The area attracts climbers, walkers and assorted adventurers who want to pit themselves against some of the most challenging conditions to be found anywhere in the UK. The plants and animals of the Cairngorms need to be hardy to survive the severe winter conditions. The higher reaches of the mountains are rich in montane vegetation such as lichen-rich heath and other habitats support many rare species.

An ancient and long-extinct volcano lies at the heart of Scotland's capital. It roared into life some 350 million years ago and has been a source of fascination since it was first studied in earnest during the Enlightenment by James Hutton, one of the most significant geologists of all time. Many of Hutton's ground-breaking ideas of how the world works were predicated on the rocks and landscapes of his home city and surrounding area.This book is a fascinating exploration into Edinburgh's geological history over millions of years - including the passage of ice during a great freeze that has left an indelible stamp on Edinburgh's cityscape, the use rocks quarried locally from ancient, now long disappeared seas to create the stunning elegance of Edinburgh's New Town, and the coal deposits and oil shale which were exploited from the Industrial Revolution to the present day.

The Isle of Skye offers a magical combination of wild land and breath-taking natural beauty. Skye's geological history involves some of the most ancient rocks on the planet; a grandstand view as the Highlands of Scotland were formed over 400 million years ago and the development of one of the mightiest volcanoes ever to blow its top. Skye is also known as Scotland's 'dinosaur island', yielding the remains of many species of plant and meat-eating creatures that stalked land some 140 million years ago. Finally, the rocks forged in earlier times were shaped into the familiar hills and glens of today by the passage of ice as a great freeze gripped the land. This book provides key information about the formation of the island and the on-going processes of natural landscape evolution that continue to leave their mark on these spectacular vistas.

Lying off the south-western tip of Mull, the island of Iona has huge significance as the first important centre of Christianity in Scotland. But the Abbey itself is built upon rocks that tell of events of much greater antiquity: the Lewisian gneisses of western Iona are some of the oldest rocks in the world. Alan McKirdy explores the fascinating geology of the area - in particular the eruption of two major volcanoes around 60 million years ago whose magma chambers formed the spectacular hills and glens of the Ardnamurchan peninsula and Glen More on Mull; and the Ice Age, when glaciers ripped away much of the upper part of the two volcanoes and sandpapered the landscape to create the rounded contours we see today.

The remote archipelago which lies off the north-west coast of Scotland boasts a huge range of contrasting and spectacular land- and seascapes. Lewis is austere, with a featureless peatland core, bounded by dramatic sea cliffs, whilst neighbouring Harris is extraordinarily rugged but fringed with stunning unspoilt beaches. The Uists are characterised by gentle fertile machair lands, and Barra has a more brutal landscape carved from ancient gnarled rock. But these islands have one thing in common: they were all built from the most ancient rocks in Britain – Lewisian gneiss, which reaches back almost to the beginning of geological time.In this book Alan McKirdy explores these islands, together with the volcanic rocks that build the outposts of Rockall, St Kilda and the Shiants, tracing their extraordinary journey through time and across the globe.

The archipelagos of Orkney and Shetland are the products of some of the most dramatic events which have occurred in the Earth’s history.The Shetlands are the eroded roots of a vast mountain range that once soared to Himalayan heights and extended from Scandinavia to the Appalachians. Around 65 million years ago, this mighty chain was split asunder by the shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates, and the North Atlantic Ocean was formed. In earlier times, the area was occupied by a huge freshwater lake – Lake Orcadie – which existed for almost 10 million years and was home to a wide range of primitive species of fish. Later, during the last Ice Age, the area was completely submerged beneath ice sheets which left an indelible mark on the landscapes of both island groups.This book tells the incredible geological story of the most northerly outposts of the British Isles.

Longlisted for the Highland Book PrizeThe rocks of northern Scotland tell of turbulent events involving continental collisions that unleashed cataclysmic forces, creating a chain of mountains, the remnants of which we see today on both sides of the Atlantic.  Geologists from Victorian times onwards have studied the area, and some of the most important geological phenomena have been established and described from the rocks that built these stunning landscapes.In this book, Alan McKirdy makes sense of the many and varied episodes that shaped the familiar landscape we see today. He highlights a number of fascinating geological features, including the Old Red Sandstones of Cromarty and the Black Isle, which carry the secrets of life during ‘the Age of Fishes’, and the thin sliver of fossil-bearing strata which hugs the coast from Golspie to beyond Helmsdale that dates back to Jurassic times and which records the time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

The south of Scotland has a long and turbulent geological past. Perhaps most notably, it marks the place where, 432 million years ago, an ocean, once as wide as the north Atlantic, was compressed by a convergence of ancient lands and then ceased to be.Deserts covered the land with thick layers of brick-red coloured rocks, known as the Old Red Sandstone, piled up and dumped by rivers and streams that crisscrossed the area. Around 432 million years ago, violent explosive volcanic activity gave rise to the prominent landscape features recognised today as the Eildon Hills.In later geological times, the area was blanketed with massive sand dunes, later compressed to create the building stones from which Dumfries, Glasgow and other towns and cities, were constructed. It is also the place where the modern science of geology was born. James Hutton, star of the Scottish Enlightenment, found inspiration from his study of the local rocks. Sites he described almost 250 years ago are still hailed as amongst the most historic and important rock exposures to be found anywhere in the world.

The written history and archaeological records of Central Scotland takes us back to Pictish times some 5,000 years ago. The geology of the area stretches back a further 400 million years.The oldest rocks are found near Lesmahagow and in the Pentland Hills. Known geologically as ‘inliers’– small areas of rocks from an older age, surrounded by younger strata – these strata have yielded some of the oldest fish on earth and are highly prized for what they tell us about early life on the planet. Rocks of the Old Red Sandstone and the succeeding Carboniferous era underlie the rest of Central Scotland in almost equal measure. Explosive volcanic rocks, thick layers of lava, desert sandstones, limestones and productive coal measures make up this bedrock patchwork. Then, sometime later, a covering of ice, some two kilometres thick, blanketed the landscape. It sandpapered and burnished the bedrock into the familiar scenes we see today – our matchless Scottish landscape.The coal and iron ore which lay beneath the ground between Edinburgh and Glasgow provided the raw materials that drove the Industrial Revolution in Scotland, and the early focus on understanding the rocks beneath our feet was unsurprisingly initially concentrated on the most useful minerals resources.

The Small Isles comprise the Inner Hebridean islands of Rum, Eigg, Canna and Muck.The landscapes, rocks and fossils of these beautiful, remote islands tells of a drama involving erupting volcanoes, an ancient ecosystem that included dinosaurs and an ancient desert landscape. The geological history stretches back 3 billion years to the earliest events recorded on Earth.All four islands owe their origin to a group of three adjacent volcanoes that were active around 60 million years ago. Rum is the eroded remains of the magma chamber of one of these volcanoes. Eigg and Muck are part of the lava field that extends north from the Mull volcano and Canna lies towards the southern extent of the lavas that flowed from the Skye volcano.The final event that left a mark on these islands was the Ice Age that started around 2.4 million years ago.  Its effect on the landscape was profound. The thick cover of erosive ice shaped the contours of the land into the hills and glens that we are familiar with today.

Today the Northeast of Scotland is the picture of peace and tranquillity. Some of the highest quality agricultural land is to be found here. But it was not always like this. Although the area lacks the scenic grandeur and dramatic mountains found elsewhere in Scotland, the record of the rocks here bear witness to countless apocalyptic geological events that helped to shape the landscape we see today.The area is bounded to the south by The Highland Line, which played a key role in the assembly of Scotland from a collection of previously unrelated continental fragments 420 million years ago. In more recent times, the land that became Northeast Scotland was covered by desert sands. Primitive lizard-like reptiles roamed the parched plains, leaving their footprints in the sand and impressions of their bones as trace fossils embedded in the rock. The landscape was shaped into its current distinctive form in more recent geological times by the passage of ice.Written for the non-expert and including stunning photographs and diagrams, this is the essential introduction to the geology and landforms of this fascinating part of Scotland.

Scotland is justly famed for its magnificent scenery - mountains, lochs, islands, wild rocky places and sandy beaches. All this is evidence of an exciting geological history which began 3,500 billion years ago and is still continuing. The sheer diversity of Scotland's rocks and landforms are the physical reminders of a fascinating journey through time. They reveal that the land that makes up Scotland today has travelled the world and has not always even belonged to one single continental landmass. At different times, too, continents formed and split apart, ancient volcanoes erupted vast quantities of lava and Ice Age glaciers shaped the landscape. In Land of Mountain and Flood three eminent Earth scientists explain Scotland's rich geological heritage, unravelling and explaining the present-day landscape and its place in the geological history of the planet. Containing a huge amount of clearly presented information and enhanced throughout with specifically commissioned illustrations, diagrams and photographs, this is an essential book for anyoine interested in the world around them.

Scotties are exciting, full-colour, Scottish information books for young readers, with a photocopiable black/white 8pp section for home or classroom use. The book looks at the landscape of Scotland before people, and at the islands, coasts, moorlands, machair, lochs, rivers and flora and fauna that we know now. It also discusses topics such as climate change, renewable energy and carbon footprint and at how the countryside can be enjoyed and protected.