OVERLYING ROCKS OF ROSS AND INVERNESS. 147 



at many points north of this area. This series is well exposed capping 

 Ben Eay and the other mountains towards Loch Torridon. 



The dip is towards the east ; but the series is only found in a very 

 broken condition in the low ground towards Loch Clare. A por- 

 tion onty of the next or Limestone series also is exposed here, in 

 consequence of the very faulted condition of the ground. 



Were this section alone to be taken as showing the order of suc- 

 cession in this area, the evidence as to upward passage into the next 

 series would be almost valueless, as the faults are amply sufficient to 

 bring up the old floor to appear d to rest upon the Limestone series ; 

 and the advocates of that view could have justly claimed that the 

 comparatively unaltered condition of the next series would only 

 tend to show that the beds were the newer Pre-Cambrian rocks, 

 which yielded the comparatively unaltered fragments found in the 

 conglomerate here and at Loch Torridon. 



As there seems, however, much evidence tending to the belief 

 that these beds, which belong to the Glen-Docherty series, do rest 

 conformably on beds of the Limestone series further north, it will- 

 be better to take for granted here that these are newer beds, and 

 that they are thrown down against the Limestone series. They are 

 to be traced continuously from Glen Docherty to the shores of Loch 

 Clare and Loch Coulan. They dip to the S.E. with a gentle incli- 

 nation, and throughout are a flaggy micaceous group, in some places, 

 however, almost a clay-slate ; at other points fine-grained quartzose 

 rocks may be found. Superficially they put on sometimes a more 

 altered look than is seen either in the sandstones and clays of the 

 Limestone series immediately below, or in the Quartzite and Torridon 

 group ; but on microscopical examination the fragmentary character 

 of the series is always well marked, and after a very slight examina- 

 tion no one would be likely to be led to the mistake of associating 

 them with the true gneisses and mica-schists of either the eastern 

 or the western area. Beyond and to the north-east of Loch Coulan 

 they are entirely cut off by a fault from the next rocks to be 

 described. To the south also they are cut off from the Torridon- 

 Sandstone and Quartz-ite mountains, which extend eastward at a 

 greater elevation parallel with these supposed much newer rocks. 



The presence of great mountains of Torridon Sandstone capped 

 with quartzite to the south of Loch Clare and Loch Coulan, and ex- 

 tending as far as Loch Carron, proves beyond doubt that this region 

 has suffered enormously from various kinds of disturbances. The 

 faults, it is certain, must in this area have had a marked influence 

 on the succession, since it is perfectly clear that the same rocks as 

 those met with thrown down in the valley to the north-west of Loch 

 Clare are found capping mountain after mountain far away to the 

 south, whilst the uppermost flaggy beds may almost be said here to 

 dip towards and even below them. That the Sandstone-and- 

 Quartzite of this area is nothing more than the same series that was 

 met with at Ben Eay and in the mountains south and west of that 

 point, carried further eastward, there cannot be the shadow of a 

 doubt to the mind of any one who thoroughly explores it ; therefore 



Q. J. G. S. No. 154. ' m 



