Arthur's Seat and other volcanoes

The Arthur's Seat volcano last erupted more than 300 million years ago, but its remains still dominate the Edinburgh skyline and enable us to reconstruct the volcano and its eruptions. This small volcano started life with a series of dramatic ash eruptions, building up a cone around the crater. Later, red-hot lava flows spilled from the crater and ran downhill, solidifying into the black basalt layers that form Whinny Hill today. Similar volcanoes erupt around the world today, in places like Iceland, Hawaii, New Zealand and Japan. We will consider how modern volcanoes help us understand Arthur's Seat.

Angus Miller is a geologist with a long interest in the geology of Holyrood Park. He runs Geowalks: guided walks, talks, walking holidays and tours exploring the geology of Scotland and is a part-time Teaching Fellow at the Centre for Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh, teaching Lifelong Learning courses on the geology of Scotland. He is also heavily involved in two charities that promote Scotland's geology: as the Promotion Coordinator for the Edinburgh Geological Society, and a founding trustee of the Scottish Geology Trust.