II.—Traces of a Group of Permian Volcanos in the South-West of Scotland

Abstract

Although volcanic rocks of Permian age have long been known to occur abundantly in Germany, their existence in Britain does not appear to have been recognized up to the present time. Trapdykes, indeed, are far from rare among our Permian strata; there occur likewise many igneous masses penetrating the higher portions of the Carboniferous formation; but the former are evidently later than the Permian period, while the latter may be anterior to it. The history of volcanic action in the British isles, so far as I am aware, embraces as yet no clear evidence of Permian volcanos. In the present communication I propose to fill up this gap by showing that during the formation of the Permian sandstones a series of small but active volcanos was scattered over the south-west of Scotland.