Palaeogene and Neogene Scotland 65-2.6 million years ago

The Cretaceous was followed by the Palaeogene and Neogene. Together these lasted from 65 to 2.6 million years ago, and during this time Scotland drifted northwards to it present latitude. By the end of the Cretaceous, much of the huge 'Caledonian' mountain chain formed during the continental collisions that closed the Iapetus Ocean, had been reduced to a landscape of low relief near to sea level.

At the start of the Palaeogene, there was doming and stretching of the crust along Scotland's western margin and a period of short but intense volcanic activity associated with the opening of the North Atlantic. This gave rise to extensive lava fields and a chain of volcanoes that included the areas we know today as St Kilda, Skye, Ardnamurchan, Mull and Arran. Much of the Highlands was rapidly 'uplifted', with some areas rising as much as 1 kilometre. It is this uplift, which probably continued at a more modest rate through the Neogene, which gave the high elevation Scotland's Highlands.

The early Palaeogene was also a time of strong global warming and the climate in Scotland was similar to the hot and humid subtropics in parts of western Africa today. This provided ideal conditions for deep chemical weathering of the bedrock.

During the Neogene (23 to 2.6 million years ago), rivers running from the high ground of the west carried sediment eastwards into the North Sea basin. The climate cooled progressively, with cooling intensifying around 3 million years ago to culminate in the start of the Ice Age 2.6 million years ago. This marks the end of the Neogene and the start of the Quaternary geological period (2.6 million years ago to present).