Moine Thrust Zone 05/03/2008
Photos of selected Moine Thrust zone rocks sampled by Simon Lamb around Eriboll and Durness in NW Scotland. They were used for an exam question in 2008. Students were asked to describe and interpret the microstructures of each sample in terms of the fabrics developed during deformation, the mechanisms of deformation and recrystallisation, the overall state of strain, and any evidence for the sense of shear. They were also asked to comment on the likely temperature regime of deformation, and on relationships between the microstructures developed and the mineralogical composition of the rock.
All samples were sectioned parallel to the inferred XZ section of the finite strain ellipsoid, and all photos are oriented so that shear sense, if determinable, is sinistral.
