On Tuesday 29th November we set out to make a more detailed study of the rocks in the upper Harthope Valley above Harthope Linn. We believe from preliminary samples that these may differ significantly from the granitic rocks of the Cheviot pluton. The day is bright and cold with a hard frost promising to make boggy ground easier to walk over. The furthest permitted parking is at the Hawsen Burn just below Langleeford. From there it is a long but easy farm track to Langleefordhope, and then about a quarter of a mile to the lower Harthope Linn close to the stell (circular sheepfold). After that, the going becomes much rougher with several potentially difficult burn crossings.

The rocks outcropping above the stell prove to be granitic Central Belt group although rather more mafic than usual. Similarly the dyke-like outcrop beside the path about 200 yards above the upper Harthope Linn, is also granitic. This rock seems to give rise to a fairly even rolling hillsides.

Looking down the Harthope Valley from near Harthope Linn.
The granitic rocks of granite/quartz-monzonite give smooth rounded slopes.

From this point onwards, the type of rock changes consistently. We checked this most of the way to the watershed. The rock appears to be a form of breccia. In many places it has obviously been severely shattered. In other places it seems more stratified and less disturbed. Because of the shattered nature of the rock, it erodes into gullies more readily giving a more irregular pattern to the slopes of the hills.

A view looking up the Harthope Valley from above Harthope Linn.
The erosion gullies formed from the breccia rocks can be clearly seen.

An outcrop of typical breccia.

An outcrop of stratified breccia.

The breccia has been cemented together by silica and red haematite. The silica occasionally has space to crystallise out into attractive quartz crystals, mostly rock crystal but a few specimens show a hint of mauve. Occasionally, veinlets of black tourmaline appear with the quartz.

The Harthope valley marks the line of a SW-NE fault almost bisecting the pluton. Lateral displacement can be detected from the plutonic/lava margins on either side of the fault, and can be measured to about a quarter of a mile. Vertical movement, if any, is unknown. The faulting begs the question whether the breccia is a product of a crush zone, or evidence for volcanic vent activity. We remain uncertain about this. However, certain conclusions can be drawn. The breccia must have been cemented together under high temperatures for crystalline silica and tourmaline to have been deposited. The flatter layers imply more stable conditions for at least some of the hydrothermal activity. The presence of haematite (ferric oxide) indicates oxidising conditions but whether these were the result of iron reacting with high temperature water vapour inside the magma chamber, or exposure to the air at a vent, is uncertain.

Severely shattered breccia outcrop

We buy a 10.00 GBP day permit from Savills, Glendale Road, Wooler and drive up the College Valley to Dunsdale where we start our walk up Bellyside Hill. The purpose of the expedition is to examine the granitic rock at the northern end of the pluton at Bellyside Crag which is classified by Al-Hafdh and by previous writers as ‘Marginal’ like the rock of Cunyon Crag and Dunmoor Hill on the south east side of the pluton. We also hope to find and examine the andesite outlier mapped at the head of Goldscleugh to see if it gives any clues as to its relationship with the pluton.

View from Bellyside Hill looking up towards Goldscleugh Sike
The ground behind is the summit plateau of the Cheviot.

Bellyside Hill is Cheviot’s closest approximation to a classic ridge walk. Until about 600m there is a good path passing a series of granitic tors on the way. These are composed of a granitic but in appearance mafic rock with occasional felsic intrusions of pink rock.
At about 600m the path disappears and the only way forward is through tiresome blanket bog vegetation.

View looking north down Bellyside Hill showing the outcropping tors

A felsic phase or dyke in one of the tors on Bellyside Hill

Upper Goldscleugh reveals some rather heavily altered rock which may possibly be andesite, but it occurs as scattered blocks and pebbles, so it is impossible to determine any relationship with the pluton. If it is indeed andesite, its altered state indicates that it must have originated from close to the pluton contact.

We now tramp over to Bellyside Crag. This turns out to be composed of a mafic granitic rock similar to that found on the tors of Bellyside Hill.
The screes around the crag have a large colony of clubmosses.

Thin section of rock from Bellyside Crag viewed with crossed polars at X40
Granophyric texture can be seen in several places. There is a large crystal of clinopyroxene at the bottom of the picture.

Subsequent thin section analysis reveals some interesting facts. The rocks of Bellyside Hill and Bellyside Crag are very similar to each other although the Bellyside Hill specimens may have a slightly higher proportion of alkali feldspar. However, neither are anything like the ‘Marginal’ rock of Dunmoor Hill and Cunyon Crag.
The Bellyside Hill specimens have a lower proportion of plagioclase to alkali feldspar (identifiable feldspars show a ratio of about 1:2, plagioclase to alkali feldspar); there is very little biotite, the main mafic mineral being pyroxene (10-15%); quartz content is similar at about 20%. It also has a more marked fine matrix than the southern Marginal with frequent granophyric texture.
It therefore seems rather doubtful that it has the same origin as the southern Marginal rock.

As regards the “andesite” of upper Goldscleugh Sike, if we are correct in identifying this as a granite/andesite contact, both the andesite and granite show clear signs of banding which may indicate contact compression.
Apart from the contact on Shiel Cleugh Edge, this is the only evidence for kinematic action which we have found on Cheviot. Where it exists it appears to be very localised. However, we remain rather uncertain whether the rock from upper Goldscleugh Sike was andesite or just an altered granitic rock.

Woolhope Crag lies on the north east flank of the Cheviot just above Goldscleugh. It is one of the few convincing outcrops on the Cheviot itself. When we first visited it in 2013, we were looking for, and thought we had found, evidence that the outcrops occur because of the presence of harder, more mafic rock.
Subsequently, we read Al-Hafdh’s thesis which uses Woolhope Crag as the type location for his ‘Woolhope’ variety which is the least mafic, and therefore the most felsic and silica-rich, of his classifications.

Woolhope Crag from the East
The break on the right is where the felsic rock (left) becomes more mafic.

I returned here on19 August 2016 to investigate this apparent contradiction.
The answer is relatively simple. The southern end (higher end) of the crag is felsic; the northern (lower) end is more mafic in appearance. The join occurs at the broken mid-point of the crag. It is not an abrupt contact but a gradual change over about 20 cm and appears at first sight to be an example of fractionation – the first we have discovered in the Cheviot pluton.

Thin section of the upper (more felsic) rock at Woolhope Crag viewed with crossed polars at X40
There are some large phenocrysts of alkali feldspar showing Carlsbad twinning.

This theory breaks down when the two types are compared in thin section.
There seems to be very little difference in content between the two. Thin section analysis suggests that the difference between them is more apparent to the eye in hand specimen than actual. There is a slight increase in plagioclase with the more mafic rock but no increase in mafic minerals (both around 7%). The darker colour is probably due to the smaller grain size of the lower darker rock. Identifiable feldspars in both types show a ratio of about 1:3, plagioclase to alkali. Both types are rich enough in quartz (25-30%) and alkali feldspar to be classified as granite, albeit a relatively fine-grained variety.
An interesting feature of the upper more felsic rock is the presence of frequent chlorite.

Thin section of the lower (‘mafic’) rock at Woolhope Crag viewed with crossed polars at X40
There is no increase in mafic content compared with the more felsic rock. However, the grain size of the matrix is much smaller which must account for the darker appearance.