Clive Auton

British Geological Survey

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J.W. Merritt

British Geological Survey

Emrys Phillips

British Geological Survey

Jez Everest

British Geological Survey

Alan MacDonald

Poole Hospital

Andrew Finlayson

Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

Nicholas R. Golledge

Victoria University of Wellington

Callum R. Firth

Canterbury Christ Church University

Stephen Pearson

British Geological Survey

Sarah Arkley

British Geological Survey

Tom Bradwell

University of Stirling

Cooperative Institutions

British Geological Survey

University of Edinburgh

University of Glasgow

University of Nottingham

University of Dundee

Natural Environment Research Council

Victoria University of Wellington

University of St Andrews

Brunel University of London

University of Sheffield

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Moray and Caithness : a landscape fashioned by geology

Clive Auton J.W. Merritt Kathryn Goodenough

The far north-east of Scotland encompasses a wide range of landscapes, from the rolling hills of Moray and the coastal flagstone cliffs of Caithness, to the blanket peat bogs of the Flow Country and the ancient rugged mountains of eastern Sutherland. These landscapes have all formed during a long and complex geological history, from rocks that were buckled and warped by continental collisions that occurred many hundreds of millions of years ago, to the sculpting of the hills and valleys by glaciers just a few thousand years ago. Since Neolithic times, the inhabitants of the region have made use of its geological resources and also changed its appearance irrevocably. This book describes the whole of that geological and human history, laying bare the events that have shaped the landscape of this remote but intriguing corner of Scotland.

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Historical geology

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The 3D geological model for the Forres groundwater flood risk area [abstract only]

Clive Auton Sarah Arkley Andrew Finlayson Alan MacDonald

In recent years, the urban areas of Elgin, Nairn and Forres have been threatened by severe river flooding events leading to the expenditure of millons of pounds on the design and installation of new flood prevention measures. The most severe catastrophic flood in modern British history occurred on August 3rd 1829, along the course of the River Findhorn, which reaches the coast near Forres. Reconstructions suggest that more than 100mm of rain fell in 24 hours and peak flows exceeded 1,400 cubic metres per second in parts of the catchment. BGS studies around Forres, commissioned by Moray Council, indicate that groundwater has a significant impact on flooding particularly in the lower reaches of this ‘flashy’catchment. Targeted work has now been completed, that included detailed Quaternary mapping and geotechnical testing to supplement ground water measurements from boreholes and trial pits, to establish the permeability of the shallow geology of the catchment around Forres. A GSI3D model has been constructed of the shallow geology that has 43 separate layers. This will be demonstrated during the workshop. The model has also been reattributed with permeability values and this is now being linked to a ZOOM ground water model to produce the most detailed evaluation of shallow groundwater movements in any part of Scotland.

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The BGS Talla Earth Observatory Site

Clive Auton Jez Everest

Contribution to the field guide to acomapany the Glacial Landsystems Working Group (GLWG) meeting to review the evidence for Younger Dryas glaciation of the Tweedsmuir Hills

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Microtextural analysis of a glacially ‘deformed’ bedrock: implications for inheritance of preferred clast orientations in diamictons

Journal of Quaternary Science (2007)

Emrys Phillips Clive Auton

Abstract Although analysis of clast macrofabrics has been used to differentiate between different types of glacial diamictons and to determine palaeo‐ice flow directions, no account appears to have been made of preferred clast orientations inherited from the parental source material. Clast macrofabrics in tills are typically interpreted as having developed in response to an imposed subglacial deformation and as such provide a link between the sedimentary record and glacier dynamics. They rely on the assumption that any preferred clast orientation is a result of deformation/flow. The results of the micromorphological study of the Langholm Till exposed at North Corbelly near Dumfries (southwestern Scotland) clearly demonstrate that bedrock structure can influence clast orientation (macrofabric) within diamictons. In the lower part of the till, the orientation of elongate clasts preserves the geometry of the tectonic cleavage present within the underlying bedrock. The intensity of this steeply inclined, ‘inherited’ clast fabric decreases upward through the till, to be replaced by a more complex pattern of successive generations of clast microfabrics developed in response to deformation/flow. These results indicate potential limitations of applying clast macrofabric or microfabric analysis in isolation to establish till genesis or palaeo ice‐flow directions. Consequently, due account should be made of other glacial palaeo‐environmental and ice flow indicators, as well as rockhead depth and morphology in relation to the selection of fabric measurements sites. © British Geological Survey/Natural Environment Research Council copyright 2007. Reproduced with the permission of BGS/NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Pebble

10.1002/jqs.1147

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Field observations and laboratory test results on tills in the Nairn-Inverness area of NE Scotland

K.J. Northmore David Entwisle Helen Reeves Clive Auton Emrys Phillips

The report describes the field observations, sampling and geotechnical laboratory results on selected Scottish till sections in the Nairn-Cawdor area, Inverness-shire, Scotland. The first part of the report introduces the project and the context of this particular work. This is followed in Part 2 by an account of the sampling and testing methods undertaken for both geotechnical characterisation in the laboratory and micromorphology analyses. Part 3 provides an account of the location details of the logged and sampled exposures and descriptions of the lithological sequences at each site. Part 4 presents details and results of the characterisation tests (particle size analyses) undertaken on the collected geotechnical samples. The results of micromorphological analyses undertaken on thin sections prepared from ‘undisturbed’ samples acquired from this study are being described in a separate report.

Shire

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The glacial and interstadial sediments at the Burn of Benholm, Kincardineshire: evidence for onshore pre‐Devensian ice movement in northeast Scotland

Journal of Quaternary Science (2000)

Clive Auton John E. Gordon J.W. Merritt M. J. C. Walker

Pebbly clays and diamictons containing marine shell fragments and peat lenses exposed beneath subglacially deposited Late Devensian till at the Burn of Benholm provide new insights into the glacial history of Quaternary sequences in eastern Scotland. The peat yielded pollen of interstadial affinity (including Bruckenthalia spiculifolia) and non-finite radiocarbon dates. Comparisons with other pre-Late Devensian pollen records in northern Scotland suggest that the peat lenses are remnants of an Early Devensian interstadial deposit, of Oxygen Isotope Substage 5c or 5a age. Reworked faunal assemblages in the shelly sediments include Quaternary marine molluscs of low boreal aspect, as well as Mesozoic and Palaeozoic microfossils. Amino acid ratios from fragments of Arctica islandica suggest that the shells are of Oxygen Isotope Stage 9 age or older. The fabric and composition of the shelly sediments are consistent with their emplacement as deformation till during the onshore movement of glacially transported rafts of marine sediment. Folded and sheared contacts between the shelly deposits, peat lenses and the overlying Late Devensian till indicate that the fossiliferous sediments were glacitectonised during the main Late Devensian glaciation, when ice moved from Strathmore and overrode the site from the southwest. British Geological Survey. © NERC 2000.

Stadial

10.1002/(sici)1099-1417(200002)15:2<141::aid-jqs499>3.3.co;2-p

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The Pleistocene depositional history of the Norfolk-Suffolk borderlands

M. R. Clarke Clive Auton

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The Daless Viewpoint in the Middle Findhorn Valley

Clive Auton

The Findhorn valley, downstream of the Streens Gorge (Fig. 107), contains a particularly good assemblage of glacial features and deposits formed during, and following, the melting the last ice -sheet. This remote area is located 30 km south of Nairn, upstream of Drynachan Lodge [NH 865 397]. It is notable for a series of glaciofluvial and fluvial terraces that occupy the lower part of the north -west -facin g slope of Carn Torr Mheadhoin (543 m OD), together with extensive glacial and glaciofluvial deposits found within the valley between Daless and Creag a’ Chrocain (McEwen and Werritty, 1993 ).

Assemblage (archaeology)

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The Glacial Geomorphology Around Inverness and the Great Glen

World geomorphological landscapes (2021)

J.W. Merritt Clive Auton

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Glacial landform

10.1007/978-3-030-71246-4_15

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