Jurassic sequences of the Hebrides Basin, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Abstract

The hebridean area is well known for the spectacular Palaeocene igneous rocks (plutons, dykes, sills and flood basalts) that form part of the North Atlantic large igneous province. The exposures of Mesozoic sedimentary strata of the Hebrides have been less widely appreciated, partly because they are perceived as having been extensively altered by thermal metamorphism. Whilst this is undoubtedly true locally, the bulk of the succession remains only weakly affected, and much of significance has been learned from it of Jurassic palaeoenvironments, biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy. Additionally, because of recent hydrocarbon exploration in the Mesozoic basins offshore west of Scotland and Ireland (Trueblood & Morton, 1991; Fyfe et al., 1993; Stoker et al., 1993; Scotchman & Thomas, 1995) these succession have assumed a new importance as the nearest easily accessible outcrop analogues