Below are listed some of the best locations in Mull and Iona for looking at the geology. A list like this is by its very nature, subjective. Many of the locations are ones that feature in other sites describing these islands. Some are chosen for their visual appeal, e.g. Staffa. Others are in this list because they are geologically significant, e.g. the Loch Ba Ring Dyke.

The sites chosen for the "Top Twenty" are, in no particular order, the locations  indicated on the map below. Click on the links further down the page, below the map, to be taken to the individual pages for these locations.

The Top Twenty Sites by name:

1. 'S Airde Beinn - a volcanic plug.
2. Calgary Bay Dykes - a very prominent famous Palaeogene (Tertiary) dyke.
3. Lagganulva Ash bed - the most accessible example of volcanic ash.
4. Ulva Basalt Columns - spectacular columnar basalt.
5. Loch Ba Ring Dyke - a world famous ring dyke
6. Loch na Keal P-forms - a glacial feature, well exposed on the shore.
7. Gribun Unconformity - a huge time-gap in the geological sequence.
8. Mackinnon's Cave -  deepest sea cave in the Hebrides
9. The Wilderness - spectacular coastal scenery, very wild and remote.
10. Staffa - world famous basalt columns and Fingal's Cave.
11. The Fossil Tree, Burg - remains of a tree caught in  a lava flow.
12. Carsaig East (ammonites) - casts of ammonites visible on the shore.
13. Carsaig Arches - cave and arch in basaltic lavas.
14. Ardtun  - fossil leaf bed in between lava flows.
15. Ardalanish Bay - metamorphic rocks and unusual minerals
16. Ross of Mull Granite Contact- where the granite meets the metamorphic rocks.
17. Fionnphort: Ross of Mull Granite - Pink granite with grey intrusions in it.
18. Iona Glacial Erratics - granite boulders carried by ice.
19. Iona - Columba's Bay - famous for its green serpentine-marble pebbles.
20. Iona Marble Quarry - white marble, no longer quarried.

 

There are many more locations which are of geological interest. These are given on the page "All the Locations"  - the link is on the RHS of this page. If anyone has any site of particular interest that they think should be included, let me know and I will add it.

 

Or if you think that there are other sites that should be in a "Top Twenty" let me know!