Plateau regolith and tor, Cairn Gorm summit
Frost rubble in the Chalamain Gap
Periglacial Landscapes
Defintion: any area with a tundra climate, such as mountainous areas in mid-latitudes, or where frost processes are active or permafrost occurs in some form.
The high Cairngorms is an alpine-arctic environment in which frost-related processes operate effectively. Two generations of periglacial features may be recognised:
- features active today or earlier in the Holocene
- relict features from the Pleistocene
Active features are found both on the plateau and in the valleys. Due to the effects of erosion by the last ice sheet, relict features are confined to the Cairngorm plateau.
Ballantyne (1996) gives
a thorough review of the character and origins of many periglacial features in
the Cairngorms.