View of Glen Rosa, Brodick, Arran, Bute


Glen Rosa, Brodick, Arran, Bute. Valley filled with glacial debris forming alluvial flat.

This is a view of the same valley as the other image of Glen Rosa included in this site, but looking downstream to its lower reaches. The basic shape of the rock valley is still U-shaped, though less pronounced, but the floor has been modified by being filled with glacial debris washed down by the burn and now forming an alluvial flat. The stream is meandering about across the valley and can be seen, on the right, cutting into the thin wedge of boulder clay which drapes the lower slopes of the valley sides.

Scotland, and indeed a large part of the northern hemisphere, has experienced several glaciations over the last 100,000+ years. This has profoundly modified the landscape, with extensive erosion of the highland areas giving rise to corries, cirques, U-shaped valleys etc. In the lowlands, there was equal, or more extensive deposition of boulder clay, moraines, erratic blocks, sand and gravel, varved clays (in glacial lakes), as well as the moulding of the landscape into drumlins, roches moutonnees etc. Sediments deposited offshore also preserve a record of the various waxing and waning phases during this period.

SCRAN ID: 000-000-147-188-C; British Geological Survey