Central & Eastern |
Introduction - Edinburgh -
Cradle of Geology including photographs of |
SITE LINKS |
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| Minerals Like west Central Scotland, coal dominated the mining scene of past years. Similarly, the area also has several, minor mineralizations of copper, lead and other elements and a number of mine/ trial sites. These locations are mainly centred in and around the Ochil Hills: an area particularly well-known for its agate occurences. One of these mines has recently produced specimens of barite with the associated secondary copper species, malachite and azurite, the latter a rather uncommon mineral in Scotland. The mine, Airthrey Hill, is close to Bridge of Allan and the fairly recently newly-titled city of Stirling. The mine supplied the base metal for Scottish coinage ("baw-bees") of a few centuries ago and the word "sterling" is also derived from the city's name. As is the case with the county of Angus and with the Highlands region, the Ochil Hills is an area where you can try your luck at gold panning too! |
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AZURITE - Airthrey
Hill Mine, |
AZURITE - Airthrey
Hill Mine, Bridge of Allan, Stirling. |
Native SILVER |
QUARTZ - Agate
variety - Glen Farg, Fife. |
BARITE & Malachite |
Other occurences in this central area include the Hilderston Mine in the Bathgate Hills, near Edinburgh, where a minor nickel/ cobalt and silver mineralization has recorded such species nickeline, native silver and skutterudite, usually in calcite or barite gangue, and also with barytocalcite. A richer deposit, worked a couple of centuries ago at Alva, Clackmannan, produced, a few years ago, superb, small specimens of skeletal and arborescent groups of native silver crystals. (see gold & silver page) An interesting find made by Scottish
collectors of masses Nearby, fine and delicate pectolite - as white, bladed, crystal sprays forming balls and aggregates - as well as calcite crystals - some with secondary coatings of crystalline calcite/ quartz, are found at Orrock Quarry, Burntisland. |
PECTOLITE - Orrock Quarry,
Burntisland, Fife. |
Mention should be made of the pyrope garnet found at Elie Ness. Now very rare, grains have fairly recently been found and later faceted. The pyrope garnet from here is often referred to as "Elie Ruby". It is a titanium-rich variety formed in
ultrabasic rocks originating deep in the earth's mantle.
Most grains/ megacrysts are now weathered out of their
matrix. Indeed, the igneous rocks of the region supply their fair share of interest to collectors. Around the Edinburgh - North Berwick - Trapain Law area, pectolite, prehnite and fluorapophyllite (the latter as pyramidal crystals) have been recorded as well as nepheline and sodalite. |
QUARTZ - Amethyst -
Montrose, Angus. |
Farther north, in the former county
of Angus and elsewhere on the coast, quartz, including
both amethyst and smoky quartz varieties,
may be found in the Devonian lavas of the area. However,
these finds are perhaps overlooked by the associated
occurences of agates, in sites throughout the Sidlaw
Hills, around Dundee and the Tay Estuary. Inland and straddling the Highlands region, there are also occurences of garnet, kyanite and diopside and other silicates - though not perhaps always well-crystallized... |
| References/ Further Reading BOOKS - (Both books listed below may be purchased via Amazon). Minerals
of Scotland - Past & Present. (A.
Livingstone) (NMS Publishing Ltd) (2003). Mineralogical
Record UK
Journal of Mines & Minerals (UKJMM) © Minerals of Scotland |