Stac LeeThis is Stack Lee, a small sea stack that is part of the St. Kilda Archipelago, found off th

Stac LeeThis is Stack Lee, a small sea stack that is part of the St. Kilda Archipelago, found off the Northwest Coast of Scotland. The white specks at the top of this island are a huge colony of gannets, and the white streaks down the side are bird poo.This rock, like many in this archipelago, is an igneous rock. It formed about 60 million years ago as the far northern part of the Atlantic opened; volcanic rocks poured out across many parts of northern Scotland and Ireland in the process. The hard rocks at this site are resistant enough against erosion that they stand up as a series of steep islands, and as you can see, they are home to huge colonies of birds as a consequence.These islands are an interesting geomorphological story. They are exposed to the full fury of storms that come through the North Atlantic, but still stand tall. Beneath the waves, there are several terraces 40 and 80 meters down. These terraces were cut when sea level was lower; as the ice sheets melted to end the last great ice age, sea level must have stopped at a few points for long enough to allow erosion of terraces that are now hidden beneath the waves.-JBBImage credit: https://flic.kr/p/29hkhPkReferences:https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GeositesStKildahttp://sjg.lyellcollection.org/content/sjg/1/1/93.full.pdfhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/265677304_ST_KILDA_ARCHIPELAGO__ -- source link

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