It continues for about 9 miles along the southern edge of the Ochil Hills, from Blairlogie in the west to past Dollar in the east. A notional boundary for the Ochil Hills is shown in Map 2, bounded by roads, and stretching from Dunblane in the west to Glen Farg in the east. Drew describes the Ochil Hills as a “Special Place”. The Ochil Hills (/ˈoʊxəl/ (listen); Scottish Gaelic: Monadh Ochail is a range of hills in Scotland north of the Forth valley bordered by the towns of Stirling, Alloa, Kinross, Auchterarder and Perth. Regional Geology. The plateau is undulating with no prominent peak, the highest point being Ben Cleuch at 721 m (2,365 ft). [3][4] The name may involve *ogel meaning, "a ridge". Glacial till covers much of the lower ground around and within the range and peat accumulations occur on the plateau surface particularly in the west.[7]. Peaks over 3,000 ft (914.4 m) are known as Munros. Intrusions of both mafic and felsic character are also found. The oldest rocks cropping out in the County are of the Ochil Volcanic Formation in the Ochil Hills. The hills are part of a Devonian lava extrusion whose appearance today is largely due to the Ochil Fault which results in the southern face of the hills forming an escarpment. South of the HBF are younger sedimentary rocks with lava extrusions (Lower Devonian) which form the Ochil Hills on the southern fringes of Strathearn. Ochil hills over 600m PDF. The geology of the Stirling district. In the early Industrial Revolution, several mill towns such as Tillicoultry, Alva and Menstrie (the Hillfoots Villages) grew up in the shadow of the Ochils to tap the water power. Welsh uchel). Leader: Dr. Mike Browne. There has also been swarm activity in the Central Valley of Scotland by the Ochil Hills (near Stirling). "[8]Old lore also told that some of the stones from the fort of Castle Craig were used in the construction of Stirling Castle, 7 3⁄4 miles (12.5 kilometres) to the west. It is intruded by numerous dykes of micridiorite of Silurian/Devonian age which form a part of the North Britain Siluro-Devonian Calc-alkaline Dyke Suite. [2] The nearest colliery, Manor Powis, approximately 2 km south of the fault, was approximately the same depth, in carse land that is scarcely above sea level, and was mining coal from Carboniferous strata at least many hundreds of metres above the top of the Devonian deposits. The Ochil Fault is one of Britain's finest examples of a fault line scarp,[4] and can be best appreciated from vantage points such as the Wallace Monument near Stirling. There were several excellent locations but the most productive, Borland Glen (7), yielded gold with a distinctive telluride signature in … Modern movements of the fault are very minor but occasionally give rise to discernible earthquakes,[3] particularly in the village of Menstrie, and the town of Tillicoultry. There are ranges of gentler, rolling hills even in the central lowlands of Scotland. The Ochil Fault remained active throughout geological time, and some later movements allowed intrusive eruptions of diorite or quartz-dolerite to rise at various places along its length. Following approval in early 2007, the construction of a wind farm consisting of thirteen 102 m (335 ft) turbines on Burnfoot Hill, which lies north of Tillicoultry and Ben Cleuch and to the south of the Upper Glendevon Reservoir has been completed. North of the fault, Devonianlavaflows and pyroclastic deposits slope gently down, thinning towards the north. both from the geological setting and microchemical signature of the gold. Geography and geology The hills are part of a Devonian lava extrusion whose appearance today is largely due to the Ochil Fault which results in the southern face of the hills forming an escarpment. The hills are part of a Devonian lava extrusion whose appearance today is largely due to the Ochil Faultwhich … 1. Heavy Metal Mines in the Ochil Hills: Chronology and Context By John G Harrison INTRODUCTION In recent decades the mines of the Ochil Hills, in east central Scotland, have attracted the interest of speleologists, mineralogists, ceramists, and botanists1. The deepest deposits of coal measures are obviously found in this region, but this has not been mined to its full extent, probably due to the great depth involved. Edinburgh : HMSO, 1970 The Path of Condie is a very old established collecting site. Fault Scarp - Ochil Hills The line of the Ochil Fault can be traced across this image, which shows the sheer scarp slope of the Ochil Hills rising up over the downthrown plain below. He goes on to say "that the great crags of Dumyat less than a mile to the east is universally credited with being the last Pictish stronghold at the old hillfort there. These hills have no distinguishable summit, disqualifying them as “peaks” in the Ochils, but rather they lead onto Glenquey Hill and Innerdownie respectively. Alluvial gold is wide-spread and locally abundant in the central Ochil Hills, but the bedrock sources have not been identified. Although the geological structure of Old Red Sandstone lavas, continues into north-east Fife, the hills lose much of their presence and cohesion in this area. The Ochil Hills . Black Hill (North-West) near Sherrifmuir is marked on OS Maps as “Black Hill", but has no distinguishable peak or summit, more of a slop leading onto Glentye Hill. The extent of the Ochils is not well-defined but by some definitions continues to include the hills of north Fife.[3]. The formation comprises over 2000m of subaerial basaltic and andesitic lava flows with interbedded terrestrial debris-flow conglomerates. Illustrated with many diagrams and drawings and some photographs. The Ochil Fault has produced one of the best examples of a fault line scarp to be seen in Britain. Boyle, R. W., 1962, Geology of the Barite, Gypsum, Manganese, and Lead Zinc-Copper-Silver Deposits of the Walton-Cheverie Area, Nova Scotia: Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 62-25, 26 p. Google Scholar They also acted as a boundary with Fife. [3], The Ochils are formed from a thick wedge of Devonian age volcanic and volcano-sedimentary rocks, rising up from below the lower Old Red Sandstone sedimentary rocks to the north and terminated to the south by the major southerly downthrowing Ochil Fault. Our latest film, narrated by Dr Kirsty McAlister, explores the various ways in which people's lives have been influenced by the Ochil Hills. The Ochil Fault was active from the earliest part of the Carboniferous period, allowing the marine swamps in which the coal-producing vegetation flourished to be periodically overlain by layers of sand, forming sandstone, or silt, forming shale, in a number of cyclic subsidences. The Ochil Fault, one of the most prominent tectonic features in the Midland Valley of Scotland, juxtaposes Lower Devonian volcanic rocks against late Westphalian strata, implying a possible vertical displacement of … In the past they Such ranges include the Ochil Hills, near Stirling, the Campsie Fells outside Glasgow, and the Lomond Hills in Fife. The hills are part of a Devonian lava extrusion whose appearance today is largely due to the Ochil Fault which results in the southern face of the hills forming an escarpment. These occurred in the form of basins, and the pattern of movements was complex, however it is known that the greatest vertical movement was centred about 1 km east of the town of Alva, and almost certainly exceeded 5 km vertically. Subsequent glacial erosion has served to highlight this giant step in the landscape. The only major roads crossing the hills pass through Glen Devon/Glen Eagles and Glenfarg, the latter now largely replaced except for local traffic by the M90 Edinburgh-Perth motorway cutting through the eastern foothills. North of the fault, In what was called "the fairest portion of the northern kingdom" by Sir Walter Scott, Gleneagles, the glamorous 850-acre retreat set beneath the Ochil Hills of Scotland in the heart of Perthshire, is introducing a trio of new meeting & events spaces for jaw-dropping gatherings. The Ochil Fault is the geological feature which defines the southern edge of the Ochil Hills escarpment in Scotland. Peat Hill, Lamb Hill, and Gled’s Nose are a selection of “hills” marked on OS Maps near NN 9768 0247. Another item of folklore existing in the Ochil Hills is Katie Thirsty's Well, a sacred well shrouded in mythology (OS Grid Reference – NS 81787 97653). Path of Condie and the Ochil Hills The andesitic lavas continue in a broad arc around Perth, and agate bearing localities are found to the south-west around the Path of Condie and along the southern face of the Ochil Hills. The whole massif is heavily faulted with some valleys such as Alva Glen and Glen Sherup having been eroded along these lines. There are also three other hills over 600m with a drop of 15-20 metres: Hills over 600m. [6] Parts of the lower slopes on the northern side around Blackford and Auchterarder are formed from a volcanic conglomerate. Sheriffmuir, the site of the 1715 battle of the Jacobite rising, is on the northern slopes of the hills. The plateau is undulating with no prominent peak, the highest point being Ben Cleuch at 721m The south-flowing burns have cut deep ravines including Dollar Glen, Silver Glen and Alva Glen, often only passable with the aid of wooden … We take a look at the early Iron Age settlement on Dumyat, the possible medieval hunting lodge behind Castle Campbell in Dollar, the Ochils' contribution to local industries - not least textiles, urbanisation, and recreation. The minerals, including ores of silver and cobalt, were probably emplaced by hydrothermal solutions percolating upwards through various minor faults and fractures, in the Tertiary period. 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