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Evolution of the Dune and Machair Grassland Surface of South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Michael R. Moss  and
Gordon Dickinson
Michael R. Moss
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario NlG 2Wl, Canada
Gordon Dickinson
Affiliation:
Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland Gl2 8QQ, United Kingdom.
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Extract

The machair coastal areas of the Outer Hebrides form one of the more distinctive coastal environments in Britain and owe their origin to an apparently unique, as yet not clearly understood, combination of factors which operated in the late postglacial period. A further distinguishing characteristic is the often quite extensive level machair grassland plain, which is suggested here as being the last of a series of evolutionary phases which took place from the time of initial sand deposition (ca 6000 B.P.) until ca 2000 B.P. There is evidence that, in a modified form, these processes may have continued right through to the present time.

Information

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , Winter 1979 , pp. 287 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1979

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