The glacial geomorphology around Inverness and the Great Glen

Superimposed on ancient landscape elements, the Inverness region includes a palimpsest of subglacial landforms formed during successive Late Devensian ice movements. It contains a particularly rich and diverse set of sediments and landforms created close to retreating glacier margins, together with the legacy of a major oscillating tidewater outlet glacier. At least five phases of glaciation have been recognised, although they remain poorly constrained temporally. The region includes well-documented buried glacial rafts of arctic shelly clay, two internationally important localities where organic deposits pre-date the last ice sheet, and a good geomorphological record of Late Glacial sea-level change.