Epigranite - Isle of Skye
Collection:
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope
Click the object button to view an object rotation for this sample.
Object

Fact sheet

Epigranite - Isle of Skye

This epigranite is from Loch Ainort on the Isle of Skye. It is mainly composed of quartz, alkali feldspar and plagioclase feldspar. The most common ferromagnesian mineral is ferrohedenbergite (a member of the amphibole group) - see rotation 1, together with Fe-Ti oxides, allanite, apatite and biotite. Secondary products include epidote and chlorite (replacing biotite) - see rotation 2.

The Loch Ainort epigranite is part of the Western Red Hills centre on the Isle of Skye. It occupies an area of 35 square km and comprises ten granites, a composite ring dyke, explosion breccia and a gabbros. The centre was emplaced into Paleogene lavas to the west, Torridonian and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks to the north, and granites of the Srath na Creitheach Centre to the south.

A good description of the mineralogy of the granites of Skye is here.

The term epigranite was introduced to distinguish the high-level granites of the British Palaeocene Volcanic Province from other, deeper-level granites such as those of Caledonian age in Scotland.

Additional images
  • Palaeogene igneous complexes in Scotland (Courtesy of BGS)
  • Width 2.5 cm
  • Width 2.5 cm
  • Width 2 cm
Map
57.277403, -6.080763
Description:
Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
About this collection

The United Kingdom Virtual Microscope (UKVM) collection consists of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks from around the UK.

It is intended as a teaching resource, helping to tell the story of the common rock types and how they form, and reflecting the history of the UK at the margins of the continent of Europe. The collection is a series of teaching sets, for example igneous rocks from the North Atlantic Igneous Province and SW England; high-temperature metamorphic rocks from Scotland and low-temperature metamorphic rocks from Wales; and sedimentary rocks, including English limestones and sandstones.

Sample details

Type
igneous
Category
granite
Rock-forming mineral
biotite
orthoclase
plagioclase
feldspar
quartz
Accessory minerals
ilmenite
apatite
Category guide  
Category Guide
Title
Refers to any word or phrase that appears in the individual rock names. Names are generally descriptive; they allow users to search for broad terms like ‘granite’ as well as more specific names such as ‘breccia’. However, the adjacent descriptions of the specimens captures a wider range of general words and phrases and is a more powerful search tool.
Description
Refers to any word or phrase that appears anywhere in the descriptions of the specimens
Accessory minerals
Minerals that occur in very low abundance in a rock. They are usually not visible with the naked eye and contribute perhapssver, they often dominate the rare elements such as platinum group metals.
Rock-forming minerals
Minerals that make up the bulk of all rock samples and are also the ones used in rock classi?cation.
Timescale
Selecting one or more period, for example 'Jurassic'.
Theme
A term used to group together related samples that are not already gathered into a single Collection. For instance, there is a ‘SW England granites’ theme that includes such rock types as granite, hydrothermal breccia, skarn and vein samples.
Category
A general term used to label a rock sample. It is a useful way of grouping similar samples throughout a collection. Category names are often, but not exclusively, common rock names (e.g. granite, basalt, dolerite, gabbro, greisen, skarn, gneiss, amphibolite, limestone, sandstone).
Owner
The owner of the sample that appears in the collection. For example, NASA owns all the samples that appear in the Moon Rocks collection
We would like to thank the following for the use of this sample: