Recumbent Folds in the Schists of the Scottish Highlands

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Abstract
I. I ntroduction . T he district discussed in this paper includes a considerable portion of two typical Highland counties, Inverness-shire and Argyllshire. It lies in the main between Loch Linnhe, on the north-west, and a chain of granitic intrusions which, on the south-east, connect the Moor of Rannoch with the upper portion of Loch Etive. It extends northwards to the River Spean, and southwards to Appin and Loch Creran. The region thus defined is dissected by an intricate system of deeply cut glens, flanked by some of the loftiest mountains of Great Britain, including the giant Ben Nevis itself, 4406 feet high. The rock exposures on the mountain sides are remarkably clear, owing to the comparative absence of morainic material. The detailed mapping of this district has recently been completed by the Geological Survey, and the results of the work will shortly be published in an official memoir. In the present paper an outline is given of the complicated tectonics of the crystalline schists. Before entering on this description brief reference may be made to the results obtained by other workers along similar lines of enquiry. ( a ) Historical Review. Geologists are now familiar with the researches of James Nicol [l] , who showed that the gneisses, which Sir Roderick Murchison had described as conformably overlying the fossiliferous strata of the North-West Highlands, are in reality separated from the latter by a powerful dislocation. Dr. Callaway was the first, however, to appreciate clearly that this dislocation is of the nature of a gently

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