Edinburgh Castle Rock and the Arthur's Seat volcano

BGS image ID: P001266

Oblique aerial view of Edinburgh Castle Rock and the Arthur's Seat volcano, looking from the west-north-west. In the foreground, Edinburgh Castle sits on dolerite plugging a Lower Carboniferous volcanic vent intruded into softer sedimentary rocks. Glaciation from the west has left the crag-and-tail feature formed by the hard crag of the Castle Rock and the tail of the Royal Mile stretching eastwards. The remnants of another Lower Carboniferous volcano form Queen's Park in the middle distance: the Arthur's Seat summit is formed of agglomerate and intrusions filling the volcanic vents; the ridges of Whinny Hill to the left (north) are the remains of the lava flows. The sharp Salisbury Craigs in front are formed of a slightly younger teschenite (dolerite) sill.

Bob McIntosh