Ledmore Marble

Ledmore Marble has been sourced from two adjacent quarries near Ledmore Junction in Sutherland. The stone consisted originally of lime mud that was deposited on the floor of a shallow sea during the Cambrian Period (c. 515 million years ago), when Scotland was south of the Equator at roughly the same latitude as South Africa is today. Intense heating when magma of the adjacent Loch Borralan Syenitic Pluton was emplaced during the Silurian Period (roughly 430 million years ago) coverted the carbonate rock to serpentine-bearing marble. Ledmore Marble was used to make decorative artefacts. Ledmore Marble is not quarried for building stone today.

Building Stone ID 10,110

Geological description

Rock category  
Metamorphic rock
Stone type  
Marble
Source bedrock unit  
Ghrudaidh Formation
Colour  
Green . na and white and grey
Grain-size  
Fine crystalline (0.032 to 0.25 mm) to medium crystalline (0.25 to 2 mm)
Cohesion  
Strongly cohesive
Water absorption  
Very low
Key constituents  
None
Texture  
Hornfelsed and texturally heterogeneous

Historic significance

Maximum historical geographic reach  
Not Available
Extent of historic building stone quarrying  
Not extensive (score = 0)
Historic significance score  
Not entered

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