Mugeary () is a farm or croft and former settlement on the island of Skye, Scotland. Located southwest of Portree, it is known as the location where the

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic rock

mugearite Mugearite () is a type of oligoclase-bearing basalt, comprising olivine, apatite, and opaque oxides. The main feldspar in mugearite is oligoclase. Mugearite is a sodium-rich member of the alkaline magma series. In the TAS classification of volc ...

was first identified. The Gaelic name is derived from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

and probably means "narrow field".

Location

Mugeary lies above sea level on a west-facing slope of the hill Stròc-bheinn, north of the Glenmore River. The Glenmore flows into the River Snizort, which passes the settlement of Carbost and joins the sea at the head of the innermost arm of Loch Snizort Beag. Although only southwest of Portree, the island of Skye's main town, Mugeary is about double this distance away by road. There is a track across the ''Bealach Mòr'' (English: big pass) to the north of Stròc-bheinn which leads to the forestry plantation above the main A87 road south of Portree. According to the Skye and Lochalsh Local Plan of 2007 the Glenmore valley has potential both for further afforestation and also

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

developments in the vicinity of Mugeary. To the south the landscape is dominated by the forestry plantation of Glen Tungadal through which flows the upper reaches of the River Snizort, providing beats for

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

during the fishing season. Mugeary's elevated situation in the path of prevailing westerly winds leads to a cool and damp climate. Average annual temperatures are c. and annual rainfall exceeds .

History

The ruins surrounding the extant croft suggest a more substantial settlement prior to the Clearances, which devastated many parts of Skye, and a well-documented case from the 1850s in the parish of Snizort exists. The RCAHMS have identified an old field system northwest of the existing farm buildings that predates 1881 and a second record describes the area as a

crofting Crofting (Scottish Gaelic: ') is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were est ...

"township".

Mugearite

Mugearite Mugearite () is a type of oligoclase-bearing basalt, comprising olivine, apatite, and opaque oxides. The main feldspar in mugearite is oligoclase. Mugearite is a sodium-rich member of the alkaline magma series. In the TAS classification of volc ...

is a type of oligoclase-bearing basalt, comprising

olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron Silicate minerals, silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of Nesosilicates, nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle (Earth), upper mantle, it is a com ...

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of Hydroxide, OH−, Fluoride, F− and Chloride, Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of ...

, and opaque oxides. The main

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

in mugearite is oligoclase. It was first identified by

Alfred Harker Alfred Harker Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (19 February 1859 – 28 July 1939) was an English geologist who specialised in petrology and interpretive petrography. He was lecturer in petrology at the University of Cambridge for many years, a ...

in 1904 from formations in the vicinity of Mugeary, making this remote spot the rock's " type locality". It occurs in a variety of locations worldwide, including outcrops near

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in New Zealand and in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

. In 2012 the

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

exploration vehicle ''

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin , from "careful, diligent, curious", akin to "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking, such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident in humans and other animals. Curiosity helps Developmental psyc ...

'' discovered a small rock, named " Jake Matijevic" by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

scientists, which appears to be made of mugearite. The rock was discovered by ''Curiosity'' en route to a destination called Glenelg about from "Jake" in

Gale crater Gale is a crater, and probable dry lake, at in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle on Mars. It is in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5–3.8 billion years old. The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale, an amateur a ...

. Coincidentally, the village of Glenelg lies on the west coast of mainland Scotland, just from Mugeary itself.Amos, Jonathan (17 Oct 2012
"Cosmic coincidence on the road to Glenelg"
BBC News. Retrieved 20 Oct 2012.

Notes

References

* * I. D. Muir and C. E. Tilley (March 1961
"Mugearites and Their Place in Alkali Igneous Rock Series"
''The Journal of Geology'' Vol. 69, No. 2. * Richards, Eric (1985) ''A History of the Highland Clearances. Volume 2: Emigration, protest, reasons''. Taylor & Francis. * OS ''Landranger'' 23 {{Skye Populated places in the Isle of Skye Geological type localities of Scotland