A glacial geological and geomorphological map of the far NW Highlands, Scotland. Part 1

Abstract

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The “Glacial geological and geomorphological map of the NW Highlands, Scotland” is the result of detailed aerial photograph interpretation and field mapping at a scale of 1: 25,000 and presents the distribution of glacial deposits and landforms in an area of ca. 1000 km² in the far NW Scottish Highlands (58°5″N 4°58″W to 58°29″N 4°34″W; British National Grid: NC 250140 to NC 500 540). This area has never been mapped in detail before, and previous glacier reconstructions have solely been carried out from aerial photographs without much ground-truthing. The present mapping reveals that glacial landforms, most notably recessional “hummocky” moraines attributed to the Younger Dryas (ca. 12.7-11.5 ka BP), are more widely distributed throughout the study area than recognised on earlier overview maps. Detailed mapping enables the detailed reconstruction of part of a large mountain icefield of ca. 211 km² which is significantly larger than the 36 km² previously envisaged for the NW Highlands. These findings demonstrate that “traditional” mapping from aerial photographs and in the field can result in a high-resolution reconstruction of palaeo-glaciers from which palaeoclimatic variables can then be calculated. Such variables are crucial to validate and further constrain numerical models used to predict future climate change.