Exhumed surfaces
An extract from Godard's (1965) map of erosion surfaces in southwest Caithness. The heavy lined shading is the Surface intermédiaire; the other lined hsading is the lower Surface écossaise; the stipples show the extensive Niveau Pliocene.
Strreetmap image of the Knockfin Heights and the dubh lochans
Surface intermédiaire
Definition: Gently undulating land surfaces cut indiscriminately across underlying geologic structures and that is the end-product of a long period of erosion.
The Surface intermédiaire (Godard, 1965) is preserved only as fragments in the Northern Highlands. Typically, these are flat interfluves at 375-500 m. One of the most extensive fragments forms the Knockfin Heights, the high, empty, sodden and peat-covered plateau that forms the watershed between the Glutt, Dunbeath and Helmsdale Waters.