Regular readers of my blog will have, no doubt, already have guessed that I will post one of either two things that give me ‘satisfaction’, ie either a photo of some old chimneys, or, as in this case, some photos of Fife’s local geology.
All of the following rocks were deposited at a time when this part of Scotland was covered by a vast delta (bigger than the present day Mississippi), and the low lying land was covered in rich jungle like vegetation. This was a perfect situation to allow for the formation of coals, and up until fairly recently, coal was the most important economic product of Fife. These rocks can all be found in the cliffs below Ravenscraig Castle Park, near Kirkcaldy, in Fife.
The first two photos (above), show parts of river channels in cross section (they are marked by the red lines). These channels would have been much bigger at the time in which they formed, but obviously, nothing like as big as the main river channel. They have been much compacted by the weight of the overlying sediments – probably a few thousand feet of sediment has been worn away, to the point where we see them today on the beach. NB the blocks of stone above the sedimentary strata form part of an old wall, built from the surrounding rocks.
The next three photos show organic material (black), probably mainly coal fragments, concentrated in a white leached sandy siltstone.
These beds form part of the Passage Formation (approx 317 million years old). The other rocks shown in this post are from the Upper Limestone Formation, and are approx 322 million years old.
The final two photos show some crossbedding, which forms as the various riverlets migrate across the flood plains, depositing sands (cross beds) on the inner bends of meanders, and eroding material from the outer sides of the meanders.