ROCKING SCIENCE AT KNOCKAN CRAG

A remote rocky outcrop in North West Scotland is one of the most important geological sites in the world and as Lorraine Wakefield discovered you no longer have to turn over every stone to uncover its fascinating history.

"For much of its outcrop length from Loch Eriboll to Skye, the basal contact of the Moine Thrust Sheet is generally poorly exposed. A glorious exception to this is found at the Knockan area, a site that is doubly fortunate in being very easily accessible. Here mylonites derived from the Moine metasediments overlie carbonates of the Durness Group. The section at Knockan Crag is deceptive in that it displays an apparently simple upward progression through the foreland Cambro-Ordovician strata into the apparently conformable Moine." Rob Butler, School of Earth Sciences at Leeds University.

To most of us this description of Knockan Crag in Wester Ross seems like gobbledygook and unless you are a geologist like the author his explanation of the importance of the site is unlikely to provoke much excitement.

However since last summer the mysteries and significance of the remote Knockan Crag, north of Ullapool, have been uncovered to a wider audience thanks to the creation of hands on visitor facilities and interpretation trails by Scottish Natural Heritage.

Knockan Crag is famous as one of the world's most important geological sites and since the 19th century geologists Ben Peach and John Horne uncovered the mystery of the Moine Thrust at Knockan it has become an important location for geologists and scientists.

Despite its worldly importance until recently most visitors to the north west Highlands would have been unaware of its significance and passed it by completely but the new visitor facilities aim to take the story of Knockan Crag to the wider public.

The story of Knockan Crag goes back at least 480 million years, to when the Caledonian mountain building episode took place, creating a huge mountain chain running through what is now Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Eastern USA (there was no Atlantic Ocean then).

Intense pressure split the crust along gently sloping faults, forcing the older rocks to move upwards and westwards over the younger rocks. This "overthrust", called the Moine Thrust, goes up the west of Scotland and is clearly visible at Knockan. It baffled geologists throughout the 19th century until Peach and Horne came up with their explanation of how it happened.

Part of the challenge of creating visitor facilities at Knockan Crag was turning this complicated science into easily accessible and interesting information to help bring home the significance of the area in the creation of the Earth we see today.

This has been achieved using state of the art interpretation, including interactive models and a multi-lingual CD Rom that helps tell the story of the area's landscape. Several trails have also been constructed with viewpoints, environmental sculptures and points of interest en route.

Since opening last summer the new facilities have already attracted several thousand visitors to Knockan Crag and it is hoped the visitor centre will encourage more people to come to the area and stay longer.

"More than 2,000 people have visited Knockan Crag since the new facilities opened last August," said Calum MacFarlane of Scottish Natural Heritage.

"The facilities are aimed at people of all ages and abilities and help bring the geology to life using plain language, entertaining interpretation and the CD Rom. They will help raise the profile of Knockan Crag and its significance by reaching out to a far wider audience than just the geologists and scientists who come here," he added.

The Knockan interpretation facilities are linked to other sites around the Assynt and Coigach area each telling their own part of the story and has been created as part of Scottish Natural Heritage's commitment to promoting access and enjoyment of the country's natural heritage.

SNH area officer and geologist Jan Breckenridge said they hoped the new facilities would not only help people learn about the important geology of the area but would also make them pause for a while and enjoy the stunning scenery.

"Knockan Crag is hugely important on an international scale in tracing the formation of this landscape and the ways in which people and wildlife have interacted with it through time," explained Jan.

"It is already renowned internationally among geologists, but what we want to do through these new facilities is engage the general public, particularly young people, in Knockan's fantastic story and international significance.

"We want people to really enjoy Knockan, either simply as a beautiful place to stop and take in the spectacular scenery, or to learn more about the geology of the area and how this helped form these amazing landscapes."

Visitors to Knockan Crag can learn about its significance with lots of different hands on interpretation points and take a walk on one of the trails, graded easy, moderate or strenuous, to take in more of the site, scenery and see the magnificent environmental sculptures scattered around the crag.

They can also meet Peach and Horne, the geologists who discovered the importance of Knockan Crag, as they learn all about this 480 million year old site with the help of 21st century technology.

Visit the Knockan Crag website www.knockan-crag.co.uk for more information.

(21/2/2002)

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