The Quaternary in Scotland

Abstract

The broad outlines of the Scottish landscape owe their origins to a combination of geological and tectonic controls and geomorphological processes in pre-Quaternary time. However, there are few on-land deposits that predate the Quaternary and the great majority of the relict features in the landscape are erosional and therefore difficult to date. Consequently there has been a range of interpretations and reconstructions concerning the existence, ages and origins of erosion surfaces, drainage systems and weathered bedrock (Linton, 1951b; Walton, 1964; George, 1965, 1966; Godard, 1965; Sissons, 1967a, 1976b; Haynes, 1983; Hall, 1991). Nevertheless, detailed regional studies, together with consideration of the sediments deposited on the adjacent continental shelves, have allowed progress to be made in recent years (Hall, 1983, 1986, 1991; Le Coeur, 1988) in understanding the longer-term evolution of the present landscape and its large-scale features.