Today the Northeast of Scotland is the picture of peace and tranquillity. Some of the highest quality agricultural land is to
be found here. But it was not always like this. Although the area lacks the scenic grandeur and dramatic mountains found
elsewhere in Scotland, the record of the rocks here bear witness to countless apocalyptic geological events that helped to
shape the landscape we see today.
The area is bounded to the south by The Highland Line, which played a key role in the assembly of Scotland from a
collection of previously unrelated continental fragments 420 million years ago. In more recent times, the land that became
Northeast Scotland was covered by desert sands. Primitive lizard-like reptiles roamed the parched plains, leaving their
footprints in the sand and impressions of their bones as trace fossils embedded in the rock. The landscape was shaped
into its current distinctive form in more recent geological times by the passage of ice. |
