A Pliocene age and origin for the strandflat of the Western Isles of Scotland: a speculative hypothesis
2013
A series of very wide (up to 15 km) raised shore platforms in the Scottish Hebrides are
identified and described for the first time and are considered part of a high rock
platform shoreline in the western isles of Scotland described by W. B. Wright in his
classic Geological Magazine paper a century ago as a ‘preglacial’
feature. Subsequent interpretations suggesting that the platforms were produced during the
Pleistocene are rejected here in favour of a speculative hypothesis that the features are
part of the well-known strandflat that is extensively developed across large areas of the
northern hemisphere. It is argued that the Scottish strandflat developed during the
Pliocene and was later subjected to extensive Pleistocene glacial erosion such that only a
few areas of platform have survived in the Scottish Inner Hebrides (ice-proximal) while
they are well-preserved in the Outer Hebrides (ice-distal). Support for a Pliocene
hypothesis is provided by the marine oxygen isotope record for this time interval which
points to prolonged periods of relative sea level stability as would be required for the
production of such wide features. This hypothesis for the formation of a Scottish
strandflat not only provides an elegant explanation for the origin and age of the raised
rock platform fragments that occur throughout the western isles of Scotland, but it may
also have relevance for other coastal areas of the northern hemisphere (e.g. Norway,
Greenland, Alaska) where the strandflat is a well-developed feature.
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