Nonsorted patterned ground on mountains in the Northern Highlands of Scotland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/BP/1986/30/2Keywords:
earth hummocks, stripes, sand hummocks, niveo-aeolian processes, mass wastingAbstract
The characteristics of nonsorted patterned ground on two massifs in the Northern Highlands of Scotland are described and discussed with particular reference to age and mode of formation. On the frost-susceptible regolith of the Ben Wyvis massif, earth hummocks on level ground and gentle slopes grade into hummock stripes (bands of hummocks aligned downslope) then relief stripes ("ridge and furrow" features) as gradient increases. These features appear to have formed through modification by mass displacement of nonsorted vegetation-defined patterns of Lateglacial age, and are essentially inactive at present. On the An Teallach massif (where the regolith is not frost-susceptible) equivalent features are absent, but large sand hummocks have developed within the last 100 years on recent niveo-aeolian deposits. These are interpreted as having formed through the trapping of niveo-aeolian sand by tussocks on slopes
that are sufficiently steep to allow eluviation of sand from between the tussocks by nival meltwater. The wider significance of these findings is discussed with reference to previous literature on nonsorted patterned ground in upland Britain.
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