glacial erosion   glacial deposition                        

Till in the valley of the Dunbeath Water - a product of glacial erosion, transport and deposition

Glacial landscapes

Caithness carries an impressive array of glacial landforms and deposits. The county was of key importance to 19th century debates about the importance of sea ice and glacier ice in transforming the terrain. More recently, it has been at the centre of controversy over the extent of the last ice sheet in Scotland. Many aspects of its glacial history await detailed study.

Conventionally, glacial landforms are classified according to

• origin, either formed by ice (glacial) or meltwater (glacifluvial)
• origin, either products of erosion or deposition
• position relative to the former ice, whether subglacial, englacial, supraglacial or ice marginal or in front of the ice (proglacial).