Siccar Point – The Roots of Modern Geology

Siccar Point, located on the southeast coast of Scotland, is well revered in the geological community. Outcrops at this locale display ‘Hutton’s Unconformity’. This is an angular unconformity where tilted rock units of about 370 million years in age called the Old Red Sandstone (with a basal layer of conglomerate) lie atop nearly vertical strata of greywacke that are approximately 435 million years in age. James Hutton observed these rock juxtapositions while on a boat trip past Siccar Point in 1788 with James Hall and John Playfair. His observations and contemplation of this unconformity formed a basis for his theory of repeated cycles of deposition, uplift, and erosion, which was later known as uniformitarianism.

The British Geological Survey posted a new video on Siccar Point a few days ago. Their video features amazing drone video of the locale and good accompanying audio. It is well worth a view!