The Stac Fada impact event: a new age and its impact on Scottish Geology

The Stac Fada Member of the Stoer Group is now widely accepted as a product of an ancient meteorite impact. Initially assigned a c. 1.2-billion-year-old age, new dating places the event 200 million years later at c. 1.0 Ga. This evening’s lecture will highlight how this new information changes our understanding of the geological evolution of the Scottish Highlands and those regions elsewhere linked to that evolution.

Our speaker is Tony Prave, Field Geologist and Emeritus Professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, St Andrews University. As a field geologist interested in reconstructing Earth’s surface environments during pivotal episodes in Earth history, Tony has worked from above the Arctic circle to the deserts of southern Africa and on rocks that span 4 billion years of the geological record. His career began with a PhD in 1986 at Penn State University, USA, followed by 10 years at the City University of New York. For his efforts in trying to better understand Scottish geology, Tony was awarded the Clough Medal in 2024.