Siccar Point
Siccar Point is a headland on the east coast of Scotland , east of Edinburgh and not far from the village of Cockburnspath . As a geological outcrop, the locality is of outstanding scientific and historical importance.
Near the sea level is located at the foot of the escarpment of the Siccar Point Hutton unconformity ( Hutton's unconformity ). This describes a geological outcrop in which almost vertical layers of greywacke and clay slate ( Gala Group ) from the Silurian are overlaid by horizontally superimposed red sandstone layers ( Stratheden Group ) from the Devonian . In this place the older layers from the Silurian are strongly folded . Your upper part was later removed horizontally and in this way of discordant seated sandstones covered.
In 1788 James Hutton , together with John Playfair and James Hall, used the example of the rock layers visible here to recognize the temporal dimensions in the course of geological processes, which until then had hardly been understood. This information served to demonstrate the successive phenomena of sedimentation , folding, erosion and renewed sedimentation. Hutton interpreted the geological processes, which seemed unbelievable for the understanding of nature at the time, as evidence of the inevitably long periods of time in which such developments take place and, consequently, of the ancient age of the earth. With that he came into contradiction to the biblical doctrine of creation .
Web links
- Brief description on the website of the BGS (English)
- Brief description on the website of www.scottishgeology.com (English)
Coordinates: 55 ° 55 '53.4 " N , 2 ° 18' 4.8" W.