Cairngorm mountains

The granite mountains of the
Cairngorms form a distinctive
and internationally important
landscape. Two recent studies
provide new information to help develop
Earth heritage interpretation and site
management.
The Cairngorm Mountains make up the
largest continuous area of high ground
above 1,000m in Britain and include most
of the highest summits in Scotland. These
mountains, with their distinctive plateau
surfaces and glacially sculptured features,
became part of Scotland’s second National
Park in 2003. They are also included in the
UK Tentative List of World Heritage Sites
for their exceptional landforms and
geological history. In particular, the
Cairngorms provide unique insights into
the processes of mountain landscape
evolution and environmental change in a
maritime, mid-latitude setting in the
northern hemisphere over the last 400
million years.