The NW Highlands Controversy: geology, geologists and social climbing in Victorian times – Talk by Peter Gutteridge
In 1854, the discovery of fossils near Durness on the north coast of Scotland triggered one of the bitterest scientific controversies of Victorian times. Geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchsion, director of the Geological Survey, claimed that the fossils proved that much of NW Scotland was a conformable sequence of rocks belonging to his Silurian system. But geologist James Nicol of Aberdeen University, suggested that the fossils were younger and went on to suggest that the geological succession was broken by a series of major faults.
In 1860, Murchison invited the ambitious, young survey geologist Archibald Geikie, on a tour of NW Scotland to pass on his knowledge of the geology. During the 1860s, Geikie rose through the ranks of the Geological Survey with Murchison’s support, eventually taking up the chair of Geology at the University of Edinburgh, endowed for him by Murchison, in 1871.
Against an increasing tide of scientific dissent during the 1870s, Geikie continued to support Murchison’s view on the geology of NW Scotland. In 1883, Geikie, now Director of the Geological Survey, assembled a team of Survey geologists to map NW Scotland, who eventually showed that Murchison was wrong.
Join Geologist Peter Gutteridge for this evening special interest lecture.
Cost: £4. Booking Essential and spaces are limited. Please contact pete@nwhgeopark.com to book.
An event in the Scottish Geology Festival 2024, organised by the Scottish Geology Trust. Please support us: Discover – Support – Join.
