Triassic sedimentation and palaeogeography in Central Skye

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Abstract
Synopsis: The Triassic sediments are described including a number of new localities which extend the known area of cover. A new map shows the Mesozoic/Palaeozoic boundary at Camas Malag on Loch Slapin, where the basal Mesozoic sediments provide some critical evidence about the position of the latest Triassic and/or earliest Jurassic upland areas in central Skye. Lateral and vertical variation in the Triassic facies, pebble size and composition of the conglomerates are plotted and show that there were two distinct physiographic environments: an alluvial fan system which drained local Palaeozoic and Torridonian areas between Beinn an Dubhaich and Ben Suardal, and dispersed eastwards. a floodplain system which drained a metamorphic region north-east of Broadford and dispersed south-westwards. Their age relationship is uncertain, but local evidence suggests that they may have been penecontemporaneous. The succession is seen to represent the youngest and the most easterly Triassic sedimentation in the Minch region. Regional thickness changes suggest that the Minch basin-complex enlarged eastwards, towards the Scottish mainland, through the Triassic Period.