Lothbeg’s Jurassic foreshore brings together pale sandstone, dark laminated siltstone and drifted plant fossils on the Sutherland coast. Around Lothbeg Point, ammonites and shells record a deepening sea beside an active fault, while leaves and other plant fragments reveal the nearby land. Exposure changes as sand and seaweed cover the rocks.
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Strongly dependent on scour and sand cover; productive shale and siltstone surfaces can disappear beneath the beach.
CHILDREN: ♦♦♦ – The sandy shore can suit a supervised family visit in suitable conditions, but slippery rock ribs and fragile fossils make this an unreliable children’s collecting trip.
ACCESS: ♦♦ – A narrow campsite approach and short shore walk; arrange vehicle access and parking with the operator or landowner.
TYPE: Foreshore sandstone, siltstone and shale. The nearby Loth Burn river exposures are a separate geological extension.
DIRECTIONS
♦ From the A9, take the small turning at Crakaig between Lothbeg and Lothmore. Crakaig Crofts lies to the north of the Crakaig approach; the coast road is easy to miss.
♦ Follow the narrow road downhill through the farm towards the coast and beneath the railway bridge. The underpass is low and narrow: check the posted clearance and your vehicle’s height before entering, and watch for campsite traffic.
♦ The original approach then bends left before a sharp right turn and steep descent along the grassy track towards the caravans. Confirm the current route and a permitted parking place with the campsite operator or landowner before driving down; the campsite is not a public day-parking entitlement. Keep tracks, gates and emergency access clear.
♦ From the shore, head south towards Lothbeg Point and the pale sandstone around it. This is the southward Lothbeg route. The separate Crakaig guide heads north. Plan the low-shore exposures around low tide and return before the tide closes your route.
♦ Original locality reference: 58.06278°N, 3.76673°W, approximately NC 9586 0956. This identifies the geological shore near the point, not a parking bay. The published “Crackaig Links” fossil section at NC 961095 is beside Lothbeg Point, rather than the northern Crakaig route.
FOSSIL HUNTING
The useful contrast is between the pale, relatively coarse sandstone around the point and the dark, finely laminated rocks immediately to its north and north-east. Sand and algae often hide the low foreshore, so a newly scoured surface matters more than a particular season. Examine exposed bedding surfaces and naturally weathered material without digging or breaking the bedrock. Before removing anything, obtain the relevant landowner or mineral-rights holder’s permission and establish any applicable protected-site consent; walking access alone does not cover collecting.
In the dark siltstones and shales, ammonites may survive as flattened impressions rather than solid shells. Look for coiled outlines and ribbing on natural surfaces, and photograph them with a scale while the surrounding rock is intact. The Geological Conservation Review records Rasenia evoluta in the basal metre of its Lothbeg Siltstone section, with Amoeboceras kitchini and Rasenia lepidula through much of that section. These are published identifications, not a promise that every fresh exposure will contain recognisable examples. Fragile impressions can be lost with the first flake of weathering shale.
The basal two metres of that section contain the bivalves Buchia concentrica, Liostrea multiformis and Parainoceramus. The field guide also records belemnites and brachiopods in the north-of-point succession. Higher levels include small oysters attached to ammonites, a useful reminder that a shell resting on the seabed and one carried above it record different living conditions. Carbonate concretions can preserve better specimens than the surrounding fissile rock, but their presence is no reason to split them indiscriminately. Rare fish and reptile remains are reported from concretions; any suspected bone is worth recording carefully and referring for expert advice.
Plant fossils are a major reason for Lothbeg’s scientific interest. In the pale sandstone, carbonaceous debris is concentrated on some bed tops; in the dark marine shales, leaf and frond fragments occur with the sea animals. Dark plant traces need to be distinguished from modern seaweed and from the rock’s own lamination. A useful specimen can be only a small piece with clear branching veins, a leaf margin or a preserved surface film. Published Lothbeg material includes the ferns Hausmannia buchii, Gleichenia cycadina and Phlebopteris dunkeri, alongside cycad-like foliage, ginkgo relatives and conifers. A hand lens and good close photographs are more helpful than trying to free every fragment.
The plants were washed from land into the marine basin, so the remains are commonly incomplete even when their fine detail is excellent. The conifer described as Taxodiophyllum scoticum was based on more than 70 leaves, and the same review uses Tritaenia scotica in its table and illustration. These names should not be counted as two separately established local conifers. A long cycad frond illustrated in the field guide came from a concretion found loose on the beach, only probably derived from Mutabilis Zone shales; its exact bed and species were not established. Complete plants should not be presented as routine finds.
Different parts of the shale exposure preserve fossils differently. Brealey’s Crackaig Links section beside the point yielded many crushed ammonites low in the succession, but mainly plants and occasional fish remains in its upper approximately 10 m. The shales south-east of the point were described as extremely fissile, with faint, poorly preserved impressions. Record the position, rock type and whether a find was loose or in place. Leave unusual vertebrate material, large plant-bearing slabs and specimens whose removal would damage an exposure for specialist advice.
A chronological record of fossil research, geological interpretation and conservation milestones around Lothbeg Point.
1827–1829 – Laminated rocks at Loth-beg-burn described
R. I. Murchison described fine black-and-white sandstone lamination beside the burn mouth and carbonaceous shale beneath it. His paper was read in 1827 and published in 1829. This early account concerns the nearby burn-mouth exposures, rather than a measured log of the point itself.
1963 – Early coastal protection
The larger Brora–Helmsdale Coast site was first notified for protection. The later Helmsdale Coast designation derives from that history, although the original boundary should not be assumed to match the present designated shore exactly.
1963 – Loth River ammonites enter the zonal record
W. J. Arkell and J. H. Callomon recorded a Loth River fauna including Amoeboceras and raseniid ammonites. Their published records helped subsequent workers date the river siltstones and relate them to the sandstones and shales around Lothbeg.
1975 – A submarine-delta interpretation proposed
R. Neves and R. C. Selley interpreted the Lothbeg plant-bearing marine deposits in terms of a submarine delta with turbidity flows. Later work refined the sandy-slope interpretation and questioned whether a radial fan geometry could be demonstrated.
1976 – Sandstone age reassessed
M. E. Brookfield investigated the age of the Allt na Cuile sandstones, using ammonite evidence that became important to interpretation of the Lothbeg-area succession. Some fossils came from loose sandstone blocks, leaving their original bed uncertain; the work was an age reassessment rather than a newly dated discovery at Lothbeg Point.
1984 – Drifted flora and a new conifer described
J. van der Burgh and J. H. A. van Konijnenburg-van Cittert described the Lothbeg plant assemblage, including the conifer named Taxodiophyllum scoticum. More than 70 leaves formed the basis of the conifer description. The date records its scientific description, not a securely established day or year of discovery.
1986 – Helmsdale Coast re-notified
The Helmsdale Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest was re-notified on 12 December with a reduced area. Its protected interests include the Jurassic coastal geology and Mesozoic palaeobotany.
1989 – Dinoflagellate cysts refine the local framework
H. F. Barron’s published study included samples around Lothbeg Point and the Loth Burn. Microscopic fossils helped relate these discontinuous exposures to the regional Jurassic zonal succession, complementing the ammonite evidence.
1990–1991 – Crackaig Links measured and its ammonites documented
Simon Brealey’s thesis, submitted in November 1990 for examination in 1991, described the 30.5 m section just north-east of Lothbeg Point. It distinguished a basal sandstone, a pale clay marker and an overlying nodule band, and documented a Mutabilis Zone ammonite assemblage. The section belongs beside Lothbeg, despite its Crackaig Links name.
1993 – Lateral relations of sand and silt clarified
P. B. Wignall and K. T. Pickering showed that the Lothbeg Siltstone both overlies sandstone at the point and grades westwards into sandier deposits through the Loth Burn Siltstone. This made clear why the named members cannot all be treated as one simple vertical stack.
1996 – The flora compared with Culgower
A review expanded comparison of the Lothbeg and Culgower plant records, including dispersed cuticles. The two localities remained distinct assemblages, allowing differences in transport and preservation to be assessed without treating every regional plant as a Lothbeg record.
2001 – Palaeobotanical importance formally assessed
Lothbeg Point was identified as a potential addition to the national geological conservation review network because of its well-preserved drifted flora. That assessment argued for inclusion; it does not establish that formal selection occurred in the same year.
2011 – Protected-site documents reviewed
The Helmsdale Coast notification documents were reviewed on 2 February. They identify the scientific interests and the site-specific operations requiring consent, providing a conservation framework for the designated outcrops.
2014 – Sutherland Group framework revised
A. J. Mark Barron and James Riding published a formal lithostratigraphic framework that recognises the Allt na Cuile Sandstone, Kintradwell Boulder Beds and Helmsdale Boulder Beds as separate formations within the Sutherland Group. This regional revision helps interpret the competing names still encountered in older Lothbeg descriptions.
GEOLOGY
Lothbeg records a changing sea beside the Helmsdale Fault during the Kimmeridgian, in the Late Jurassic. Movement on the fault helped the basin to deepen while a nearby land area supplied sand and plant debris. Sand travelled downslope in sediment-laden currents, and finer material settled between those events. The pale sandstone and dark laminated siltstone therefore represent contrasting deposits within the same fault-margin setting, rather than volcanic rocks or a uniform sheet of “Kimmeridge Clay”.
The appropriate formal framework here is the Allt na Cuile Sandstone Formation within the Sutherland Group, following Barron and Riding’s 2014 scheme. Older accounts, including the previous guide, used Allt na Cuile Sandstone Member within Helmsdale Boulder Beds Formation. The detailed Geological Conservation Review account instead describes four members within the Allt na Cuile Sandstone Formation. Its diagram shows lateral changes as well as vertical succession. The Kintradwell Boulder Beds are partly coeval with the sandstone; they should not be turned into a thin shale layer directly beneath every Lothbeg exposure.
At the point, the proportion of sandstone increases upwards through the low-shore sandstone–mudstone transition. Burrowing becomes less conspicuous and finely laminated mudstone takes its place. The pale quartz-rich sandstone above is commonly friable, with erosive bases, occasional grading and carbonaceous bed tops. Thick sand beds are interpreted as deposits of high-density turbidity currents on a sandy submarine slope. Some cross-bedding records traction currents; possible local wave or tidal reworking has also been discussed. The evidence does not establish a neatly organised radial submarine fan.
The raised pale seams crossing the sandstone are an especially recognisable feature. They are hardened, quartz-cemented granulation bands associated with small faults. The cemented network has made the rocks more resistant to erosion and helped preserve Lothbeg Point. Elsewhere between the point and Earl’s Cut, sand was injected into openings in carbonaceous siltstone while the sediment was still soft. These structures, and the local slump folds, reveal that the Jurassic sea floor was unstable.
The overlying siltstones record quieter deposition in deeper water, with increasingly oxygen-poor conditions at the sediment surface. Their basal shelly fauna contrasts with higher levels where oysters attached to ammonites are reported. The fine lamination, drifted plants and occasional better-preserved fossils in concretions make the rocks scientifically valuable. Separate accounts describe a 30 m siltstone section and a 30.5 m measured shale section beside the point; their marker horizons cannot be matched bed for bed from the available evidence. The detailed account below keeps those descriptions and their differing age assignments separate.
The three complementary panels show the sandstone framework, the GCR siltstone horizons and Brealey’s separate measured section. They are schematic, not a continuously exposed or scaled log; the heights of some horizons are unknown.
Detailed stratigraphy, fossil-bearing horizons and structural features of Lothbeg Point, with nearby exposures kept separate.
Scope and naming. The main guide follows the original southward route from Crakaig campsite towards Lothbeg Point and the pale sandstone. Scientific descriptions also use “Crackaig Links” for the shale section at NC 961095 beside the point. Earl’s Cut in the Loth Burn, Allt Choll farther west and the shore west of the burn are separately identified below. Published maps show uncertain faults and boundaries; they do not justify an uninterrupted walk-through stratigraphic column.
SUTHERLAND GROUP
Barron and Riding’s formal framework places the Allt na Cuile Sandstone, Kintradwell Boulder Beds and Helmsdale Boulder Beds in this group as separate formations. The Kintradwell and Allt na Cuile units are approximately coeval, with major lateral facies variation. Group-scale thickness estimates do not measure this short shore. The roughly 120 m Allt na Cuile succession discussed in the GCR and earlier work is a regional composite across disconnected outcrops, including the strata historically called Loth River Shales.
Allt na Cuile Sandstone Formation
The GCR recognises the Allt Choll Breccia, Allt na Cuile Sand, Loth Burn Siltstone and Lothbeg Siltstone members. The Lothbeg Siltstone overlies the sand at the point but grades westwards into the sandier Loth Burn Siltstone and Allt na Cuile Sand. All four are therefore not superimposed at the point. The older mapped Allt na Cuile Sandstone Member and Lothbeg Shale Member terminology remains relevant when consulting legacy maps, but its rank and extent should not be silently equated with the whole GCR formation or counted as additional rock units.
Age and correlation. Most of the sandstone is assigned to the Cymodoce Zone in the 2009 field guide, with a proposed early Mutabilis age for its top at the separate Allt na Cuile exposure. The GCR places the Lothbeg Siltstone in the latest Cymodoce and Mutabilis zones; the field guide describes its north-of-point locality 6 as Mutabilis–Eudoxus; Brealey assigns his Crackaig Links section and separately named Lothbeg Point fauna to the Mutabilis Zone. These source-specific assignments are retained rather than combined into a false single zonal range. Historical regional Upper Kimmeridgian and Portlandian usage must not be converted into an unsupported numerical age for these individual beds.
Allt na Cuile Sand Member: Lothbeg Point
Low-shore sandstone–mudstone transition. Beneath the white sandstone near high-water mark, interstratified sandstone and mudstone are exposed at low water when sand and seaweed permit. The sandstone proportion increases upwards. Apparently lens-shaped sand bodies are described as 2–5 m thick; this is a range for those bodies, not a measured total for the transition. The lower mudstone is bioturbated, while burrowing generally decreases upwards and gives way to fine lamination.
White to grey or yellow quartzose sandstone. The point exposes clean, commonly friable quartz-rich sandstone, with occasional quartz pebbles and rare thin dark siltstone interbeds. The GCR describes an upward change from burrowed sandstone to thicker, more structureless beds with erosive bases and amalgamated sand packets. Grading, locally coarser basal grains, carbonaceous material on bed tops and occasional cross-bedding are important details. The thicker beds are interpreted as high-density turbidity-current deposits. Traction in submarine channels may explain much of the cross-bedding, although local reworking by waves or tides has been considered; a radial fan geometry has not been demonstrated.
Granulation seams, microfaults and reservoir properties. The field guide reports sandstone porosity up to 28% and permeability up to 3 darcies, measurements that should not be applied to every exposed bed. Pale raised bands are quartz-cemented granulation seams produced along microfaults; some fault surfaces are slickensided. Their cementation hardened a broad zone and helped the headland resist erosion. The bands can also compartmentalise otherwise permeable sandstone, explaining the locality’s relevance as a reservoir analogue. They are structural features, not separate members or igneous veins.
Injected sand between Earl’s Cut and the point. Carbonaceous siltstone interbeds on the intervening shore are locally pulled apart, contorted and disrupted, with sand injected into openings. The original field photographs show those disturbed dark laminae and pale sand bodies. No separately measured thickness or additional named bed is implied by this structural observation.
Lothbeg Siltstone Member: the GCR 30 m section
Host siltstone and contact. The broad wave-cut platform exposes a 30 m section dominated by finely laminated, fissile, dark-grey siltstone, with rare pale-grey mudstone laminae up to 2 mm thick. It overlies sandstone at Lothbeg Point and is a lateral equivalent of the sand-lens-bearing Loth Burn Siltstone farther west. Plant fragments, especially ferns, cycads and conifer needles, are abundant in the published account. “Loth River Shales” is an important historical name used for these fine-grained deposits; similarity to Kimmeridge Clay lithology does not establish the southern English formation here.
Basal metre: ammonite occurrence interval. Rasenia evoluta is recorded in the basal metre. Amoeboceras kitchini and Rasenia lepidula occur through much of the section. The metre refers to the reported occurrence interval, not a named limestone or a separate one-metre bed; names follow the cited source’s usage.
Basal two metres: benthic shells. Buchia concentrica, Liostrea multiformis and Parainoceramus occur in the basal two metres. This is another fossil-bearing interval, overlapping the basal metre rather than sitting above it as a separate layer. The field guide describes moderate oxygenation at the base and increasingly depleted conditions higher up, where oysters attached to ammonites are the only bivalves it reports. Its spelling Leiostrea differs from the GCR’s Liostrea.
First and second giant-concretion horizons. The GCR records two separate levels containing giant carbonate-cemented concretions. Individual concretions reach 0.4 m thick and 2 m across. Those dimensions describe nodules, not bed thicknesses. The precise height of either level above the section base is not supplied, so their positions remain uncertain. Neither has been correlated with the much smaller nodule band in Brealey’s description.
Three-metre tiger-stripe interval. A 3 m interval contains sand and silt interbedded at centimetre to millimetre scale. Slump folds and small faults formed while the sediment was still soft. Three metres is the thickness of the whole interval; the fine stripes are its constituent layers. The account does not give its exact height above the section base. Similar tiger-stripe facies elsewhere along the coast do not automatically mark the same horizon.
Additional field-guide observations north of the point. At NC 961096, the organic-rich siltstone and shale are frequently calcareous and contain ammonites, belemnites, bivalves, brachiopods and drifted plants. Better-preserved fossils occur in some carbonate concretions, including rare fish and reptile remains. The fine lamination and reduced bottom fauna support deeper, frequently oxygen-depleted conditions. Abundant land-derived organic debris distinguishes these basin-margin rocks from more oil-prone offshore equivalents; organic richness alone does not guarantee a good oil source rock.
Thin turbidites and a local slump sheet. The same north-of-point field-guide exposure has thin sandstone beds with sharp bases and tops. Some are parallel-sided; others pinch and swell. Grading, parallel lamination, cross-lamination and waning-flow structures are recorded. Cross-lamination indicates flow from north-west to south-east, away from the Helmsdale Fault scarp. A folded and boudinaged sheet of interbedded sandstone and shale is sometimes exposed at the southern end. These are separate field observations, not correlations with either giant-concretion level or Brealey’s clay marker.
Brealey’s separate 30.5 m Crackaig Links section, NC 961095. This measured description lies just north-east of Lothbeg Point, between high and low water, and belongs to the Lothbeg area rather than the original guide’s northern Crakaig route. The beds dip 30° north-east. Dark-grey to black, carbonaceous shale contains ammonites, fish remains, bivalves and plants. Although it describes the same general fine-grained succession, its 30.5 m total and marker positions are retained separately from the GCR’s 30 m account.
Basal sandstone, 1.5 m. The base of Brealey’s section contains 1.5 m of clean, pale-grey, fine- to medium-grained, calcite-cemented sandstone. It is thinly bedded, with layers about 1 cm thick, locally flaggy and with occasional thin shale interbeds. This sandstone is included in the stated 30.5 m section; it is not an extra unit added below that total or a demonstrated formation boundary.
Shale with thin sandstone layers. Above the basal sandstone, individual sand beds vary laterally from 1 to 10 cm thick. Some have ammonite imprints on occasionally erosive bases and carbonaceous laminae. Brealey quotes an estimate by Tyson that these thin sands make up no more than 4% of the sequence. The intervening shale commonly contains crushed, fragile ammonites; neither the percentage nor the fossil abundance is a modern field measurement.
Waxy pale-grey clay marker, 6 m above the base. The marker is described by its distinctive pale colour and waxy character. Six metres is its position in the section. Its own thickness is not specified.
Small nodule band, another metre higher. Fairly sparse cemented-shale nodules occur 1 m above the clay marker, approximately 7 m above the section base. Individual nodules reach 10 cm long; the band’s thickness is not stated. None of the nodules Brealey opened yielded ammonites. This negative observation concerns his samples, and cannot establish that every nodule is barren or identify the band with either of the GCR’s giant-concretion horizons.
Upper softer shale and the final approximately 10 m. Above the clay and nodule markers, ammonites become less frequent and preservation deteriorates in softer, friable shale. Plant material is abundant at some levels, with occasional lenticular calcite-cemented shale bodies weathering out. Brealey’s upper approximately 10 m mainly yielded plants and infrequent fish remains. This was a historical sampling result, not a permanently barren interval or a forecast of present exposure.
Ammonites in Brealey’s source terminology. The Crackaig Links fauna includes Aulacostephanoides (Aulacostephanoides) mutabilis and cf. mutabilis; Aulacostephanoides (Aulacostephanites) eulepidus, cf. ebrayoides, cf. desmonotus and cf. linealis; Aulacostephanus (Xenostephanoides) cf. thurrelli; Amoeboceras (Amoebites) beaugrandi and cf. beaugrandi, cf. rasenense and cf. kitchini; and Amoeboceras (Euprionoceras) cf. kochi. These records underpin his Mutabilis Zone interpretation. “Cf.” records a qualified identification and must not be discarded; the names are not a fresh taxonomic revision.
Separately named Lothbeg Point fauna and figured material. Brealey lists Amoeboceras (Amoebites) beaugrandi and ?Aulacostephanus (Xenostephanoides) sp. for his separately labelled Lothbeg Point locality. His description also records a large Inoceramus and small Buchia with flattened ammonites. Plate 4, figure 12 illustrates the Lothbeg beaugrandi labelled B23/21. Plate 6 illustrates Crackaig Links mutabilis B27/24, eulepidus B26/7, cf. desmonotus B27/17 and cf. linealis B27/19, respectively figures 7, 10, 11 and 12. These are the original thesis specimen labels; they do not establish museum accession or type status.
Separate south-east shale exposure, NC 959095. Brealey describes extremely fissile shale south-east of the point, with very poorly preserved fossils that commonly survive only as faint impressions. Sand is abundant in interbedded laminae; more sand-rich parts can be more cemented and blocky. No measured thickness or secure member boundary is supplied for this exposure, so it is not inserted as an extra quantified interval in either log.
Lothbeg’s drifted flora: preservation and count. The palaeobotanical GCR account describes fragmentary but well-preserved plants in marine shale. It assigns these plant-bearing beds to the early Kimmeridgian on the evidence of Aulacostephanoides cf. mutabilis; this is that account’s age assignment. Fern veins and gymnosperm cuticles retain diagnostic detail. Its prose reports 26 taxa, while 23 named rows are marked in the Lothbeg column of its comparative Table 5.1. The discrepancy remains unresolved. The table includes dispersed cuticles and derives from a 1996 review; it should not be equated with the earlier 19-species, 14-genus summary or expanded using Culgower-only records.
Historical floral records marked 1–5 specimens. Equisetum sp., Angiopteris boweri, Aspidistes thomasii, Phlebopteris dunkeri, Sphenopteris sp., Todites williamsonii, Sagenopteris phillipsii, Cycadopteris jurensis, Nilssonia orientalis, Pterophyllum cycadites, Pterophyllum thomasii, Ginkgo sp. and Elatides curvifolia. These are the table’s source spellings and collection abundance categories, not expected visitor finding rates.
Historical floral records marked 6–10 specimens. Hausmannia dichotoma, Matonidium goeppertii, Todites denticulatus, Pachypteris lanceolata, Pseudoctenis eathiensis and Phoenicopsis gunnii.
Historical floral records marked more than 10 specimens. Gleichenia cycadina, Hausmannia buchii, Czekanowskia rigida and Tritaenia scotica. The table’s subordinate line for attached male and female cones of Elatides curvifolia is marked only at Culgower and is not another Lothbeg taxon.
Conifer names and environmental interpretation. The GCR prose describes Taxodiophyllum scoticum from over 70 simple, flat, linear, single-veined leaves with characteristic epidermal features; its table and figure use Tritaenia scotica. The original nomenclatural revision and accession-level type history have not been established here, so the two names are not counted independently. Analysis of the drifted flora emphasised brackish and freshwater swamps, with moist vegetation, heath and a smaller upland-forest contribution. The relative prominence of heath plants was influenced by the recognisability and preservation of charcoal-like Phlebopteris dunkeri fragments. This is a transported assemblage, not vegetation preserved in its original growing position.
Field-guide fossil illustrations. The caption to Figure 3.13 identifies an ammonite with tiny attached bivalves and a Gleichenites fragment in one panel, without assigning a precise station or species. The other panel shows a cycad frond in a carbonate concretion found loose on the beach, probably from Mutabilis Zone shale. The scale bars are 5 cm. Those illustrations support preservation style and the explicitly qualified provenance, not a new species determination, museum accession or dated discovery.
Loth Burn Siltstone Member: nearby Earl’s Cut
A distinct river exposure, NC 952099. Earl’s Cut exposes siltstone and shale with sandstone lenses on the banks of the Loth Burn around the railway bridge. The GCR describes lenticular sandstones less than 2 m thick, whereas the field guide records two 2–3 m sandstone beds downstream. These descriptions are retained as separate observations rather than forced into one thickness. They do not make the original foreshore route a cliff locality or supply beds missing from the point’s logs.
River-section deformation and fossils. A sandstone at river level has a concordant lower surface and a top truncated by low-angle faulting, rather than an unequivocal channel shape. Curved faults downthrow south-east, an intensely folded slump horizon occurs about halfway up the described cliff, and small normal faults connect with bedding-parallel slip surfaces. The GCR records isolated nests of Liostrea multiformis and Buchia concentrica, together with earlier Amoeboceras and raseniid records; the field guide describes ammonites and well-preserved drifted plants in dark siltstone. These are Earl’s Cut records, not automatically point-bed occurrences. The river extension is not needed for the shore visit and should not involve entering railway land or fording a swollen burn.
Allt Choll Breccia Member: western context only
At the separate Allt Choll exposure, the GCR describes 25 m of coarse breccia with metre-sized quartz-arenite blocks in a poorly consolidated sand matrix. Sandstone interbeds occur locally on an approximately 3 m scale, and the breccia disappears eastwards over roughly 500 m. The 500 m is lateral distance; neither it nor the approximate interbedding scale defines point-bed thicknesses. The original field-guide photograph confirms the coarse angular-block character. This western exposure is context for the lateral facies model, not an extension of the original Lothbeg collecting footprint.
Shore west of the Loth Burn: separate reference section. Barron and Riding identify NC 946095 as a reference section near the top of the Achrimsdale Sandstone Member of the Clynekirkton Sandstone Formation. It exposes bioturbated sandstone and mudstone without the upper contact; its age is uncertain in their comparison table. It is outside the point footprint and is not presented as an exposed basal unit of this guide. Likewise, the more distant Lothbeg Bridge fault exposure and Allt Choll gullies must not be silently added to the southward shore route.
References
MacDonald, A. C. and Trewin, N. H. (2009), “The Upper Jurassic of the Helmsdale area”, in Excursion Guide to the Geology of East Sutherland and Caithness, itinerary 3.2, especially localities 4–6 and figures 3.10–3.15.
Cox, B. M. (2001), “Helmsdale”, in British Upper Jurassic Stratigraphy (Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian), Geological Conservation Review 21, pp. 4–8 of the site account and Figure 5.10.
Cleal, C. J., Thomas, B. A., Batten, D. J. and Collinson, M. E. (2001), Mesozoic and Tertiary Palaeobotany of Great Britain, Geological Conservation Review 22, Chapter 5, Table 5.1 and Lothbeg Point, pp. 126–128.
Barron, H. F. (1989), “Dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments of the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian to basal Portlandian) of the Helmsdale region, east Sutherland, Scotland”, in Northwest European Micropalaeontology and Palynology, pp. 193–213.
Barron, A. J. M. and Riding, J. B. (2014), “A revision of the Jurassic (Bathonian to Oxfordian) lithostratigraphy of the onshore Moray Firth Basin, north-east Scotland”, accepted manuscript, formal table and map.
Brealey, S. (submitted 1990, examined 1991), The Late Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian History of the Rob Roy and Ivanhoe Fields, Outer Moray Firth, thesis, pp. 48–49, 53–58, 73–78 and 114; plates 4 and 6.
For Wignall and Pickering (1993), Brookfield (1976) and the 1984 and 1996 botanical studies, this account follows the treatments in the GCR and field-guide syntheses listed above.
SAFETY
Check the tide and sea conditions before setting out. The field guide recommends visiting the north-of-point exposure within two hours of low tide, but weather, waves and local beach shape can shorten that window. Keep a clear route back and leave well before rising water reaches the upper beach. Do not work at the water’s edge in heavy swell.
Wet sandstone, algae-covered siltstone, narrow channels and loose blocks are slippery or uneven. Wear footwear with good grip and supervise children closely. Do not climb on unstable river exposures, enter railway cuttings, cross the track or attempt to ford the Loth Burn when it is swollen.
EQUIPMENT
Take tide information, suitable footwear, weather protection, a phone or camera, a hand lens and a small scale for photographs. A notebook or offline map helps distinguish the point, the north-of-point shales and any loose beach finds. If removal is expressly permitted, soft wrapping and rigid boxes are useful for fragile shale; keep the original locality and rock-type record with each specimen. Picks, knives and hammers are not needed for a looking-and-recording visit and should not be used to attack the protected bedrock.
CLEANING AND TREATING
For a specimen lawfully collected with the necessary permission, preserve its fragile surface before trying to improve its appearance. Keep thin shale supported in a rigid container and allow wet material to dry slowly at room temperature. Start with a soft, dry brush only where it will not lift a carbon film or loose flakes. Avoid soaking fissile shale, scraping leaf impressions, or washing away the very surface that carries the fossil.
Hard carbonate concretions may need careful preparation under magnification, but an ammonite or plant film can break with the matrix. Do not use household acids, bleach or routine varnish. A friable specimen may benefit from a reversible conservation consolidant such as Paraloid B-72 after specialist assessment, rather than automatic coating. Leave potentially important plants or vertebrate material unprepared and seek expert advice with photographs and precise provenance.
IDENTIFY YOUR FINDS
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FURTHER READING
Lothbeg Point and nearby exposures: itinerary 3.2 in the Helmsdale field guide
Helmsdale Geological Conservation Review account, including the Lothbeg members and horizons
Jurassic palaeobotany of Scotland: regional background and the significance of Lothbeg
Brealey’s thesis: measured Crackaig Links section and Lothbeg-area ammonites
Helmsdale Coast SSSI: official designation and site documents
JNCC’s palaeontology GCR site lists, including Lothbeg Point
ACCESS RIGHTS
The principal Jurassic outcrops here fall within the designated coastal sections of Helmsdale Coast SSSI. Responsible access to walk, look and photograph is separate from permission to take fossils. Before collecting, obtain permission from the relevant landowner or mineral-rights holder and confirm whether NatureScot consent is needed for the proposed activity. Permission to use a campsite or park a vehicle does not establish mineral rights or permission to remove fossils. Do not take specimens until the necessary permission is in place.
The site-specific consent list contains operations 19, 21, 22 and 24, covering coastal works, earthworks, storage against outcrops and alteration of rock faces. It does not list operation 25, geological-specimen removal. That absence is not collecting permission: other listed operations may apply to sampling, and damaging the notified features remains prohibited. Obtain advice from the rights-holder and NatureScot if the position is uncertain. Until the necessary authority is clear, leave specimens in place, avoid hammering or excavating bedrock, and photograph and report significant finds.
The latest recorded SSSI assessments distinguish the Kimmeridgian feature, “Unfavourable declining” on 12 September 2023, from Mesozoic palaeobotany, “Favourable maintained” on 3 May 2023. These are sitewide condition assessments, not a notice that Lothbeg is closed or a blanket collecting ban. Lothbeg Point is also listed in JNCC’s current Mesozoic Palaeobotany GCR inventory as site 3321; the list does not give the date of its addition. Follow current signs and any specific landowner or conservation directions on the day.
Scotland’s fossil resource is at risk of abuse and damage, and so we must all safeguard and managed fossil collecting to ensure its survival for future generations. For this reason it is VITAL you read and adhere to the Scottish Fossil Code for ALL sites in Scotland.
It is important to follow our ‘Code of Conduct’ when collecting fossils or visiting any site. Please also read our ‘Terms and Conditions‘
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