Norwick Beach

The picturesque whitewashed croft house on the shoreline and the rich textured mix of sand, pebbles and wild flowers makes Norwick beach, in the north of Unst, a favourite for photographers and artists.

Norwick is also known for its burn, the natural course of which is forever changing direction. There's also 'the Taing', a distinctive narrow tidal island that juts out from the north of the beach. 'The Taing' is particularly interesting for geologists as it marks an ophiolite – where a section of the Earth's crust from beneath the ocean collided with an ancient continent and was pushed up onto it over 420 million years ago. Immediately to the north of 'the Taing' there is a shallow sand filled trench and you can see where the ophiolite and continent meet.

At this picturesque spot, oceanic rocks are found in contact with continental rocks. An ocean floor was thrust onto the edge of an ancient continent over 400 million years ago.

At the south end of Norwick beach you are standing on a section of Earth’s crust that formed beneath the ancient Iapetus Ocean. At the north you are standing on rocks that were once sandy shale around the edge of the continent we know as North America. 420 million years ago as the ocean closed the oceanic crust was forced up over the rocks of the continent. We call this exposed oceanic crust an ophiolite.

The sandy shale was metamorphosed to phyllite by heat and pressure during the collision to become part of a group of rocks known as the Dalradian Supergroup. The contact between the two kinds of rock is beneath the sand north of the promontory.

Nearby, almost parallel with the contact, a later injection of rock called a dyke can be seen within the phyllites. Earth movements have broken the strong dyke rock into pods with weaker rocks bent around them. Circulating water has deposited quartz in the gaps.

On the beach you see boulders of distinctive Skaw Granite, which makes up the cliffs of Lamba Ness to the north of the bay. It formed from magma which intruded into the North American continent.

Unst is the most northerly point of the Shetland Islands and is accessible via a ferry which departs from Gutcher on the island of Yell
Take the A970/A968 to Toft and cross on the ferry to Ulsta
Continue on the A968 to Gutcher and cross on the ferry to Belmont
Continue on the A968 until you reach a T-junction and turn right (signposted Haroldswick)
Continue until you are driving on single track road before taking the right turn signposted Unst Heritage Centre
Continue until the turning for Norwick where you turn right and continue until you reach the beach
As you walk down onto the beach the site is located directly in front of you.

Intrusive igneous rocks
Iapetus closing
Caledonian Mountains & Dalradian rocks