virtual-geology.info

Rocks and Landscapes along the Coasts of the British Isles

I was inspired to write this page after a spectacular voyage with Hurtigruten: the British Isles expedition from Dover, up the Irish Sea as far as the Outer Hebrides and back, with MS Maud in May 2022.

The idea of this site is to give the interested, non-specialist reader some further information on the geology and landscapes you will see during this voyage, by pointing you to relevant sources of information.

About me

The British Isles

MS Maud in Village Bay, St Kilda, May 2022. Photo: Roger Suthren

Introduction to Geology and Landscapes

See the links and book suggestions on the home page

Books and Maps

• Earthwise™ Holiday Geology Guides and Maps from the British Geological Survey (BGS). A series of colour-illustrated leaflets, available to purchase.
• Geological Map of the British Islands (BGS)
• Scottish Natural Heritage Books and Guides
• The Geology of Britain - An Introduction by Peter Toghill
• The Hidden Landscape: A Journey into the Geological Past by Richard Fortey
• British Regional geology guides. These go into a lot more detail.
• The Geology of Ireland. Books and maps to download.

General information on the Geology of the British Isles

• Geological maps of Great Britain
• BGS Geology Viewer - Interactive geological maps of England, Wales and Scotland (the viewer can be used on a smartphone)
• Geological Maps of Northern Ireland
• Interactive map: 100 Great Geosites around the British Isles
• Scotland's rocks, landforms and soils
• Scotland's geological foundations
• Landscape fashioned by geology - Scotland: The Creation of its Natural Landscape. A well-illustrated small book which can be downloaded for free.
• Ireland through geological time
• The Island: 1.8 Billion Years in the Making (Irish TV series)
• Online interactive geological maps from the Irish Geological Survey

Information on specific parts of the MS Maud voyage (in the order visited)

• The White Cliffs of Dover
  • Geology of the White Cliffs of Dover
  • Fossils of the cliffs of Dover
  • 100 Great Geosites - The Channel Tunnel
  • The Straits of Dover from space (NASA)
  • Explore in Google Maps and beach panorama
    
    
• At Sea - the South Coast of England from Kent to Cornwall
  • Chalk cliffs, Sussex
  • Fairlight Cliffs, East Sussex
  • Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight
  • The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, Dorset and Devon
  • 100 Great Geosites - Kimmeridge Bay
  • 100 Great Geosites - Lulworth
  • Devon's Rocks - a Geological Guide
  • English Riviera Global Geopark
  • 100 Great Geosites - Permian red sandstone cliffs, Dawlish, Devon
  • Geology and Mining in Cornwall
  • The Lizard, Cornwall
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
  • Geology of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
  • The mystery of Stonehenge’s ‘bluestones’
  • Pen Anglas headland walk
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• The Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland
  • 100 Great Geosites - Giant's Causeway
  • A Land of Basalt and Chalk
  • Giant's Causeway - short video from Geological Survey of NI
  • Game of Thrones - the role of Northern Ireland's geology (short video)
  • How do columnar joints form?
  • Explore in Google Maps | drone view
    
    
  • Rathlin Island geology
  • Explore in Google Maps | view across the harbour - basalt lava overlying Chalk.
    
    
• Iona, Staffa, and Mull and adjacent mainland
  • Landscape fashioned by geology - Mull and Iona. Another excellent illustrated free booklet from NatureScot
  • The Great Glen Fault
  • 100 Great Geosites - Staffa and Fingal's Cave
  • Stories from Staffa
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• St Kilda
  • 100 Great Geosites - St Kilda
  • Explore in Google Maps | The Street
    
    
• Lewis and Harris
  • Landscape fashioned by geology - The Outer Hebrides. Download the free illustrated booklet
  • 100 Great Geosites - The Callanish Stones
  • The Hebridean terrane
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• Islay, Jura and the Argyll coast
  • Landscape fashioned by geology - Argyll and the Islands. Download the free illustrated booklet
  • The Geology of Islay
  • 100 Great Geosites: Snowball Earth deposits, Islay
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• The Isle of Man
  • Geological Map
  • The Geology of the Isle of Man
  • What did the Isle of Man look like hundreds of millions of years ago? (short animations with audio)
  • Short video (12 minutes) on the Geology of the Isle of Man. The first part covers the outcrops seen on the 'Vikings and Volcanoes' walk. Later, the claim that the fault shown represents the contact between Europe and North America is very far-fetched!
  • Evidence of the Ice Age in the Isle of Man (video: 11 minutes).
  • Isle of Man from space (NASA)
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• Waterford, Ireland
  • Geology of County Waterford
  • The Copper Coast Geopark | short video
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• The Isles of Scilly
  • A brief guide to Scilly's 290 million year history
  • Geological overview
  • Geological tour
  • Isles of Scilly from space (NASA)
  • Explore in Google Maps
    
    
• Dartmouth, Devon
  • Geology of Dartmouth
  • Explore in Google Maps

This page is maintained by Roger Suthren. Last updated 21 September, 2022 9:31 PM