The landforms of upper Strathspey

Abstract

Glacier ice from the south and west invaded upper Strathspey forming an ice sheet not less than 700m thick as it submerged the entire landscape. When the ice sheet wasted away, its meltwaters created complex sequences of fluvioglacial landforms. During the final stages of deglaciation, deposits left by the wasting ice mass were eroded by water, terraces spread out, gorges cut and the broad, low‐lying corridor on both sides of the River Spey was formed. There is evidence of a later, local readvance of the glaciers in three of the tributary valleys.