Open AccessLate Devensian raised shorelines and ice limits in the inner Moray Firth area, northern Scotland
Author(s) -
FIRTH CALLUM R.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1989.tb00365.x
Subject(s) - geology , shore , firth , paleontology , fluvial , ice sheet , landform , geomorphology , ice stream , oceanography , sea ice , structural basin , cryosphere
Marine, fluvial and fluvioglacial landforms and the deposits associated with them, have been mapped in the inner Moray Firth area. The landforms identified indicate a close association between the decay of the Late Devensian Scottish ice sheet and the formation of raised marine features. Analysis of the altitudes of the marine terraces has identified ten glacio‐isostatically tilted raised shorelines of Late Devensian age, sloping down towards N25°E, at progressively lower gradients between 0.57 and 0.15 m/km. The shorelines were formed in close association with a westward‐ and southward‐receding ice margin and the shoreline sequence suggests that rates of ice margin retreat were most rapid where the ice terminated in the sea.