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The Glacial Geomorphology Around Inverness and the Great Glen

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Landscapes and Landforms of Scotland

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

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Abstract

Superimposed on ancient landscape elements, the Inverness region includes a palimpsest of subglacial landforms formed during successive Late Devensian ice movements. It contains a particularly rich and diverse set of sediments and landforms created close to retreating glacier margins, together with the legacy of a major oscillating tidewater outlet glacier. At least five phases of glaciation have been recognised, although they remain poorly constrained temporally. The region includes well-documented buried glacial rafts of arctic shelly clay, two internationally important localities where organic deposits pre-date the last ice sheet, and a good geomorphological record of Late Devensian and Holocene relative sea-level change.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank their colleagues Craig Woodward and Callum Ritchie for cartographic assistance and publish with the permission of the Executive Director of the British Geological Survey (UKRI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Geological Survey, The Lyell Centre, Edinburgh, E14 4AP, Scotland, UK

    Jon W. Merritt & Clive A. Auton

Authors
  1. Jon W. Merritt
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  2. Clive A. Auton
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Correspondence to Jon W. Merritt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK

    Colin K. Ballantyne

  2. School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK

    John E. Gordon

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Merritt, J.W., Auton, C.A. (2021). The Glacial Geomorphology Around Inverness and the Great Glen. In: Ballantyne, C.K., Gordon, J.E. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Scotland. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71246-4_15

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