Rocky beach showing rock pools with seaweeds, limpets and barnacles clinging to the grey metamorphic bedrock typical of the area. Baleshare, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, UK.
Baleshare is a small island located off the northwest coast of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The geology of Baleshare, like much of the Outer Hebrides, is primarily composed of ancient rocks formed during the Precambrian and Paleozoic eras.
The dominant rock type on Baleshare and much of the Outer Hebrides is Lewisian gneiss. Lewisian gneiss is some of the oldest rock in the world, dating back over 3 billion years. It is a metamorphic rock formed from the alteration of ancient igneous rocks under high temperature and pressure deep within the Earth’s crust. Lewisian gneiss is characterized by its banded appearance, composed primarily of quartz, feldspar, and mica minerals.