The society published two field guides, one in paperback form, the other as downloadable field excursions.

Excursion Guide to the Geology of E. Sutherland and Caithness. N. H. Trewin and A. Hurst (Eds) Dunedin Academic Press, Edinburgh.

This is an updated version of the 1993 guide with numerous colour illustrations, and a new excursion (Sandside Bay).

This publication is now out of print, but may be found for sale online.

Excursion Guide to the Geology of the Aberdeen Area. N. H. Trewin, B. C. Kneller and C. Gillen (Eds) 1986. Scottish Academic Press.

All thirteen excursions are free to download from the table below. A Geological map of North-East Scotland, showing the location of each of these excursions, is also presented by clicking the link below the table.

These files are available in pdf format which can be displayed on your desktop computer, or on your mobile phone or tablet.

wdt_ID EXCURSION AUTHOR DOWNLOAD
1 The Dalradian of the Portsoy Area J.P. Carty and T.E. Johnson Portsoy Dalradian
2 Macduff Dalradian Turbidite Fan and Glacial Deposits N.H. Trewin Macduff Dalradian
3 Macduff to Whitehills – Buchan Type Regional Metamorphism N.F.C. Hudson and T.E. Johnson Buchan Zones
4 The Dalradian of Fraserburgh T.E. Johnson and B.C. Kneller Fraserburgh Dalradian
5 Cairnbulg to Inzie Head – Dalradian Migmatites T.E. Johnson and S. Fischer Inzie Head Dalradian
6 Pennan, Unconformity in the ORS N.H. Trewin Pennan ORS Unconformity
7 The Lower Old Red Sandstone of New Aberdour N.H. Trewin, S.D. Andrew and B.C. Kneller The Lower ORS
8 Stonehaven to Findon: Dalradian Structure and Metamorphism B. Harte, J.E. Booth and D.J. Fettes Stonehaven Dalradian
9 Devonian of St Cyrus & Milton Ness N.H. Trewin St Cyrus Devonian
10 Crawton : Lavas and conglomerates of the Lower ORS N.H. Trewin Crawton Lavas
11 Dunnottar to Stonehaven and the Highland Boundary Fault C. Gillen and N.H.Trewin Highland Boundary Fault
12 Sedimentology of the Ythan Estuary, beach and dunes, Newburgh area N.H. Trewin Ythan Estuary
13 Barrow’s Zones in Glen Esk B. Harte Glen Esk Barrow Zones

Here is a geological map of North-East Scotland showing the approximate location of each of these 13 excursions

North-East Scotland Excursion Locations

 

 

In addition to these formal publications, we are pleased to also show excursion booklets for some of our past events.

No wdt_ID EXCURSION BOOKLETS EXCURSION YEAR PREPARED BY DOWNLOAD
3 14 Tod Head - Catterline Conglomerate Formation & Lavas 2025 S Archer & M Forster Tod Head ORS Conglomerate & Lavas
2 16 Dinnet - Deeside landscape formed by glaciation 2023 Stuart Archer Dinnet & Cambus o'May
18
8 19 Pre-excursion Awareness Checklist 2026 K London / S Archer Pre-excursion Awareness Checklist
1 24 St Andrews Kinkell Ness - Photo Note-book (from an excursion guide by S Allerton) 2023 K London Kinkell Ness Notebook
6 25 A Walk in the Woods, a trip to the Tundra 2026 Andrew Wainwright Hervie Valley Glacial History
7 26 Field Trip to Seagreens 2026 Ian Sharp Seagreens and Cove Hill
4 27 A Brief Guide - the Geology of Old Aberdeen 2026 Prof. Malcolm Hole Geology of Old Aberdeen
5 31 The Geology of Old Aberdeen - Photo Note-book (From M Hole's Brief Excursion Guide) 2026 Ken London Old Aberdeen Photo Note-book

Geowalks – Earth Science Outdoors

One of our members, Peter Craig, has done much good work for the Scottish Earth Science Education Forum. Two of his local excursions are aimed at teachers, and are rather complementary to our own excursions in the Table. They may be found at : https://www.geowalks.scot/resources/

NatureScot – Landscapes Fashioned By Geology

NatureScot & BGS publish a series of booklets that explain the geological processes that formed the landscape of several Scottish areas, and the enormous timescales over which it was fashioned. We have linked to some of these publications below (all of the series are available from the NatureScot website). The pdfs can be found by scrolling down to the “View Online” section of each page:

Landscape fashioned by geology – Northeast Scotland

Landscape fashioned by geology – Fife and Tayside

Landscape fashioned by geology – Edinburgh and West Lothian

Landscape fashioned by geology – East Lothian and the Borders

Landscape fashioned by geology – Mull and Iona

Landscape fashioned by geology – The Outer Hebrides

 

There is a more recent series of booklets published by Birlinn authored by Alan McKirdy called “Landscapes in Stone“.  They are essentially updated versions of Landscapes fashioned by Geology. The new books may be found at good bookshops, Amazon, Kindle, etc and are listed on the Scottish Geology Trust website with links to the publishers retail page.

The book pertaining to our locality,  “North East Scotland – Landscapes in Stone” was published in 2025.