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Geology

The Solway Firth lies over a major fault line in the earth’s crust, the Solway Line. This marks the boundary between two ancient continents: Laurentia in the north and Avalonia in the south. They collided long ago creating the Scottish Southern Uplands and uniting the land masses of Scotland and Englandt. By contrast, ancient volcanic activity created the distinctive hills around the Forth and Tay such as Dundee Law, North Berwick Law and Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.. Read more.

Over to the East the resulting Great Whin Sill provided an natural foundation for a large section of Hadroia's Wall.

The oldest rocks in the Pennines are Ordovician in age (about 480 million years old). They were deposited along the edge of a thin continent called Avalonia (which consisted of England and Scandinavia) that lay near the south pole. It was an archipelago similar to Indonesia today. Slowly, during the Ordovician and Silurian (about 480 to 420 million years ago), Avalonia drifted northwards. Sediments were washed from the continent into the sea along its northern margin. These sediments now form the Ordovician and Silurian rocks, outcrops of which can be seen in the Fells and the Lake District. Read more.