Some place names describe the shape of landscape. South east of Lochinver lie Cnoc a Mhuilinn (“Mill Hill”), Gleann Sgoilte (“Cleft Glen”) and Gleannan na Gaoithe (“Windy Glen”). These are dramatic features where the land has been cleaved, leaving narrow slots where the wind howls and narrow fast rivers make mill streams. These dramatic features… Continue reading Assynt’s etched landscape
Category: Glacial
North American Arctic – icy beauty
Look at this. As an abstract pattern, it looks like something Gustav Klimt might paint. View Larger Map But drill down into it in more detail and it changes into an uncomfortably close view of a reptiles skin. View Larger Map All images in this post come from the North American Arctic – a place… Continue reading North American Arctic – icy beauty
BRITICE-CHRONO: death of an ice sheet
Using many different techniques, dozens of scientists are studying the death of an ice sheet that once covered Britain and Ireland. They want to understand the future fate of modern-day ice. The phrase “ice sheet” doesn’t do justice to our subject: this is not something you shatter when stepping on a frozen puddle. Covering over… Continue reading BRITICE-CHRONO: death of an ice sheet
Traces of glacial ice and water
There’s an immediacy to the study of the Quaternary (the last few million years) that is rather seductive. Most geology is (after John McPhee) studying ‘the former world’ but the Quaternary is close enough in time that it is still this world, capped by ice and full of familiar animals and human beings. We can… Continue reading Traces of glacial ice and water