From Trol­men stop­ping-pla­ce a road runs west, down to the har­bour. On the sho­re south of the har­bour you can see the expo­sed sub-Cam­bri­an pene­plain (gneiss that is around 1.7 bil­li­on years old).

In pla­ces, you can also see the sedi­ment that was depo­si­ted on top of the gneiss about 540 mil­li­on years ago. This con­si­sts of more or less roun­ded sto­nes, many of quartz, that have been lit­hi­fi­ed to form a rock known as conglo­me­ra­te. At first glan­ce you may think this is just a pie­ce of concre­te. Abo­ve the conglo­me­ra­te, sand was depo­si­ted and for­med into sand­sto­ne. The best pla­ce to exa­mi­ne this is along the road lea­ding down to the har­bour. The sand­sto­ne con­tains tra­ces of fos­sils of bot­tom-dwel­ling orga­nisms. You can also see ripp­le marks – tra­ces of the waves that hit the 540 mil­li­on years old beach that once was.

The­se types of rock form the base of Kin­ne­kul­le, as well as the other tab­le mountains in the regi­on, and are evi­dence of an anci­ent sea, how it chang­ed over time, and the ear­ly forms of life.

Hit­ta Hit