Читать книгу Walking the Corbetts Vol 2 North of the Great Glen онлайн

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Eventually, Scotland collided with England and fused to form one land mass before quiet conditions returned. There is no evidence in the rock record of any activity in north-west Scotland but this was a period of the build-up of sediment forming sandstone, coal, limestone, chalk and other sedimentary rocks in the remainder of Britain.

Around 60 million years ago the continent split apart, with Europe and Africa separating from America, as the Atlantic Ocean began to develop and there was volcanic activity along Scotland’s western edge.

Glacial moraine hummocks in Choire a’ Cheud-Chnoic, Torridon (Route 59)

During this time the climate cooled and by 2 million years ago the Ice Age began to affect the whole planet. Scotland would have been buried under ice and would have looked like Greenland today. It was during this time that today’s landscape developed, with massive glaciers carving out the U-shaped valleys which are such a feature of the Highlands today. Glaciers would also have carved out the corries and transported boulders long distances to scatter them over the landscape.