THE WESTERN ISLES UNDERFOOT
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The islands of the Outer Hebrides have two very distinct types of land: the peaty bog blanket and the fertile machair. Both very different but both very beautiful. The majority of grazing occurs on the machair land, with a diversity of wildflowers, birds, and insects present. The machair is predominantly found on the West coast of the islands. The peat bog blankets cover much of the rest of the islands. The peatlands play a major role in our response to climate change. Only 3% of Northern peatlands cover the earths surface, it stores up to one third of the worlds soil carbon! |
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Below the soil, the islands are formed from the The Hebridean Terrane. This is the oldest of the five crystal blocks that form Scotland. This area includes the Outer Hebrides, some of the Inner Hebrides and the Western most part of Scotland (spanning from Skye up to Durness). As you can see from the image on the left, the parent rocks from Uist and Barra date back greater than 3,000 million years ago.
The Outer Hebrides are predominately formed from the Lewisian gneiss complex. Lewisian gneiss is a Precambrian metamorphic rock. However that is not all, the specimens found throughout the Western Isles are not just very old and grey rocks. Walking through the exhibition you will explore the geological processes that have shaped the Outer Hebrides that we recognise today and have look at the display case containing the variety of crystals and minerals you can fine while exploring the islands!
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