Laxford

Laxford Bridge

Laxford is a remote area in the remote west coast of Sutherland around the River Laxford which runs northwest from Loch Stack to Laxford Bay, an inlet of Loch Laxford, a sea loch. This area is almost without habitation. Scourie, seven and a half miles away, is the nearest village.

The river is well known for its salmon fly fishing, indeed the name "Laxford" derives from the Old Norse for "salmon fjord".

The area is important geologically, being a region of shear in the Moine Thrust.

A road bridge, Laxford Bridge, crosses the river adjacent to the A838 and A894 roads, the road junction making the spot well known to tourists.

The area forms part of the 'North West Sutherland National Scenic Area'.

Geology

A838 road cutting: grey felsic gneiss, intruded with black gneiss, intruded with pink granite

Laxford is in the region of the Lewisian gneiss complex, deformed by the Moine Thrust, which occurred during the Caledonian Orogeny. To the south are Scourian high-grade metamorphic rocks, some 3,000 million years old, intruded with undeformed Scourie dykes 2,400 million years ago whereas to the north are lower-grade metamorphic rocks, which were later deformed and metamorphosed during the Laxfordian orogeny. At Laxford, layers of pink granite and pegmatite intruded into hot gneiss about 1,750 million years ago. Alternating layers of black mafic gneiss and grey felsic gneiss are to be seen, cut across by steeply dipping sheets of granite and pegmatite.

This area has been studied for over 100 years. First recognised by Peach et al. (1907), the area is made up of predominantly gneiss. F. Davies released a series of articles about the area in the 1970s, particularly in relation to the Scouie dyke swarms that cross cut the lewisian gneiss in the region. Further work in the area has investigated the nature of the Laxford shear zone (for example, the current geologist Katherine Goodenough).

The Laxford area lies on the Laxfordian Shear Zone, which defines the boundary between the central region and the northern region of the lewisian gneiss. This is one of the few areas what has experienced all three metamorphic events of the lewisian gneiss: the Badcallian (2.8-2.7Ga), the Inverian (2.6-2.5Ga) and the Laxfordian (1.8-1.3Ga) however some academics argue that the Laxfordian spans as recent as 1.0Ga. Each metamorphism event has, to an extent, overprinted the next. Thermobarometry has been used to attempt to identify the peak temperatures and pressures of each metamorphic event.

Laxford Bridge

Main article: Laxford Bridge

At Laxford Bridge the A838 road, coming northwest from Lairg on Scotland's northeast coast, joins the A894 coming from Loch Assynt, which is to the south. The A838 then crosses the river at the bridge and runs northeast to Durness on Scotland's north coast.

Location

• Location map: 58°22’29"N, 5°1’1"W