Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland

by Alan McKirdy, John Gordon

Scotland is justly famed for its magnificent scenery - mountains, lochs, islands, wild rocky places and sandy beaches. All this is evidence of an exciting geological history which began 3,500 billion years ago and is still continuing. The sheer diversity of Scotland's rocks and landforms are the physical reminders of a fascinating journey through time. They reveal that the land that makes up Scotland today has travelled the world and has not always even belonged to one single continental landmass. At different times, too, continents formed and split apart, ancient volcanoes erupted vast quantities of lava and Ice Age glaciers shaped the landscape. Containing a huge amount of detailed information presented in clear, comprehensible language and enhanced throughtout with specially commissioned illustrations, diagrams and photographs, this is an essential book for anyone interested in the world around them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jo Bennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy is a hard backed coffee-table sized book filled with beautiful pictures, clear diagrams and well written text.

Land of Mountain and Flood traces the journey of the landmass that makes up Scotland to the collision with England that raised and forward into a future of sea level rise under global warming. And what a journey.

From its first position atthe south pole Scotland moved with the tectonic plates of the earth north to straddle the equator. Lush rainforests laid down Scotland's great coal seams. Further north and Scotland was a desert, laying down sandstones. Ice, rising and falling sea levels, volcanoes and metamorphosis have created a collection of rocks incredibly diverse for such a small country.

Unlocking the secrets of Scotland's landscape has inspired many of the great leaps in the earth sciences. McKirdy and his coauthors have created a work that enabled me to look back across the great abyss of time as the land surface of our Earth has remade itself over and over.

Rarely have I had to work so hard to read a book but enjoyed the experience so much

[James Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This handsome book provides a wealth of detail on the geology of Scotland. It is illustrated by a wealth of photographs and has a detailed text which provides a full explanation of the manner in which the Scottish landscape was created over the millennia.