Ice marginal landforms from the decay of the Strath Spey glacier viewed from the Coire Cas car park.
1. Granite erratic 2. Marginal meltwater channel 3. Asymmetric moraine ridge formed by ice pushing in from Glen More 4. Higher moraine ridge 5. One-sided meltwater channel developed along a structural bench in the schist 6. Notches in the sky line are meltwater channels related to higher ice margins
Moraines are landforms created at the margins of glaciers by the melt-out of debris from the glacier and by the bulldozing action of the ice. Moraines are classified according to their position relative to the former glacier.
In the Cairngorms, moraines relate to two periods of former glaciation:
- Loch Lomond Stadial, when small glaciers formed in the corries and valley heads
- Late Devensian deglaciation, when large glaciers flowing out of the Cairngorms and also along Strathspey and the Dee valley created major moraine complexes.
