Ice-Age Ardnamurchan - 2

The objects shown in this blog entry may look like nothing more than impressive lumps of rock perched on West Ardnamurchan's bleak landscapes, but they all have one other thing in common: they are all 'erratics', large rocks which were picked up by the glaciers that moved across this landscape some 10,000 or more years ago, and then dumped.

The word erratic means a wanderer, something that has moved haphazardly, and they can be found anywhere around the peninsula.  The one in the top picture sits on a low ridge to the northwest of Glendrian.  Some of the houses of the little township of Achnaha can be seen in the distance.

This one is higher still, on the western slopes and near the top of the second highest peak on West Ardnamurchan, Meall nan Con.  It's an interesting erratic because its rounded shape suggests that it does not belong to any local rock, and was therefore carried into the area, perhaps at the height of the glaciation and, maybe, from some distance away.  Elsewhere, on another high point, there is a lump of Strontian Granite.

This is one of a number of erratics which sit on top of the great ridge called Beinn na h-Imeilte, to the south of Achanaha.  They can be seen from the Sanna road as they are strung out along the ridge line.  Quite why they were deposited in this way is a mystery.

Erratics aren't always left on high places.  This one lies in a valley to the east of Beinn nan Ord: just beyond it is one of the small, square stone structures which may have been temporary animal pens.

All are testament to the huge erosional and transportational powers of glaciers.  It was the glaciers which removed the great volcanoes which dominated Ardnamurchan's landscape some 60 million years ago, grinding them down until only their once deeply-buried cores remained.