Ballantrae igneous problems: historical review

A sketch is given of the growth of knowledge and interpretation regarding Ordovician igneous rocks at Ballantrae, Ayrshire. The chief investigators have been Lapworth, Peach, Horne and Balsillie. New ideas are introduced as follows: The Ballantrae serpentine appears to be a submarine lava; the Bennane Head radiolarian chert seems to follow quickly on the serpentine, and to be considerably older than the radiolarian chert often found at the summit of the Ballantrae volcanics; and, less novel, the Ballantrae metamorphism belongs to an early post-serpentine phase of Ballantrae igneous activity.