The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details

Highland Border Complex

Computer Code: HBX Preferred Map Code: HBX
Status Code: Full
Age range: Cambrian Period (E) — Ordovician Period (O)
Lithological Description: Four distinct assemblages, all showing varying degrees of greenschist facies regional metamorphism, have so far been recognised: (4) gritty sandstone, limestone and mudstone (probably Caradoc); (3) metabasalt, chert and mudstone equivalents; (2) limestone and basal serpentinite conglomerate (mid-Arenig); (1) serpentinite, metagabbro and hornblende-schist. The status of associated limestone (Leny Limestone) and black shale is unclear (probably Early Cambrian).
Definition of Lower Boundary: Not seen: tectonic contact with Highland Boundary Fault system.
Definition of Upper Boundary: Not seen: tectonic contact with the Highland Boundary Fault system. Unconformably overlain by Devonian Old Red Sandstone facies strata.
Thickness: Not calculable; isolated fault-bounded blocks. The relatively thin sections preserved are the remnants of a complete crustal thickness.
Geographical Limits: Highland Border area, Scotland, at the boundary between the Midland Valley and Grampian terranes. Several fault-bounded, lenticular outcrops strung out between Garron Point, Stonehaven, in the northeast, and Glen Sannox, Arran, in the southwest. Includes all rocks younger than the Dalradian Supergroup and older than the Old Red Sandstone, and lying immediately to the northwest of the Highland Boundary Fault and southeast of the Dalradian outcrop.
Parent Unit: Not Applicable (-)
Previous Name(s): Highland Boundary Complex [Obsolete Name and Code: Use HBX] (-309)
Highland Border Series [Obsolete Name and Code: Use HBX] (-4089)
Alternative Name(s): none recorded or not applicable
Stratotypes:
Type Area  Highland Border area, Scotland, at the boundary between the Midland Valley and Grampian terranes. Several fault-bounded, lenticular outcrops strung out between Garron Point, Stonehaven, in the northeast, and Glen Sannox, Arran, in the southwest. 
Reference(s):
Walton, E K and Oliver, G J H. 1991. Lower Palaeozoic Stratigraphy. 161-193 in Craig, G Y. (Editor), The Geology of Scotland, 3rd Edition. (London:The Geological Society.) 
Henderson, W G and Robertson, A H F, 1982. The Highland Border rocks and their relation to marginal basin development in the Scottish Caledonides. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol.139, p.433-450. 
Curry, G B. 1986. Fossils and tectonics along the Highland Boundary Fault in Scotland. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 143, 193-198. 
Johnson, M R W and Harris, A L. 1967. Dalradian - ?Arenig relations in parts of the Highland Border, Scotland, and their significance in the chronology of the Caledonian orogeny. Scottish Journal of Geology, Vol.3, 1-16. 
Henderson, W G and Fortey, N J. 1982. Highland Border rocks at Loch Lomond and Aberfoyle. Scottish Journal of Geology, Vol.18, 227-245. 
Harte, B, Booth, J E, Dempster, T J, Fettes, D J, Mendum, J R and Watts, D. 1984. Aspects of post-depositional evolution of Dalradian and Highland Border Complex rocks in the Southern Highlands of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, Vol.75, 151-163. 
Robertson, A H F and Henderson, W G. 1984. Geochemical evidence for the origins of igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Highland Border, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, Vol.75, 135-150. 
Barrow, G, 1901. On the occurrence of Silurian (?) rocks in Forfarshire and Kincardineshire along the eastern border of the Highlands. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol.57, p.328-345. 
Pringle, J. 1940. The discovery of Cambrian trilobites in the Highland Border rocks near Callander, Perthshire. The Advancement of Science, Vol.1(2), p.252. 
Curry, G B, Bluck, B J, Burton, C J, Ingham, J K, Siveter, D J, and Williams, A. 1984. Age, evolution and tectonic history of the Highland Border Complex, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, Vol. 75, 113-133. 
Curry, G B, Ingham, J K, Bluck, B J, and Williams, A. 1982. The significance of a reliable Ordovician age for some Highland Border rocks in Central Scotland. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 139, 451-454. 
Gould, D, 2001. Geology of the Aboyne district. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 66W (Scotland). 
Harris, A L. 1969. The relationships of the Leny Limestone to the Dalradian. Scottish Journal of Geology, Vol.5, 187-190. 
Bluck, B J, 2002. The Highland Border and the Highland Boundary Fault. 149-156 in Trewin, N H (Editor) The Geology of Scotland (4th Edition) [London: The Geological Society.] 
1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used:
S338 S038 S057 S067 S029 S013 S038 S056 S056 S066 S066 S030 S038 S039 S057 S057