Everything about The Central Lowlands totally explained
The
Central Lowlands or
Midland Valley is a geologically defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern
Scotland. It consists of a
rift valley between the
Highland Boundary Fault to the north and the
Southern Uplands Fault to the south. The Central Lowlands are one of the three main geographical sub-divisions of the country, the other two being the
Highlands and Islands which lie to the north and west and the
Southern Uplands, which lie south of the associated second fault line.
Boundary faults
The Highland Boundary Fault, runs from
Lochranza on the
Arran in the south and west through the
Isle of Bute and
Helensburgh, then forms the northern boundary of
Strathmore before reaching
Stonehaven in the north east. The
fault was active during the
Caledonian orogeny, a
plate tectonic collision which took place from Mid
Ordovician to Mid
Devonian periods (520 to 400 million years ago), during the closure of the
Iapetus Ocean. The fault allowed the Midland Valley to descend as a major
rift by as much as 4000 metres and there was subsequently
vertical movement. This earlier vertical movement was later replaced by a horizontal shear.
The Southern Uplands Fault runs from the
Rhinns of Galloway in the west towards
Dunbar on the east coast 30 miles from
Edinburgh.
Geology and geomorphology
The valley of the Central Lowlands is largely comprised of
Paleozoic formations. Many of these sediments have economic significance for it's here that the coal and iron bearing rocks that fuelled Scotland's
industrial revolution are to be found. This area has also experienced intense
vulcanism,
Arthur’s Seat in
Edinburgh being the remnant of a once much larger
volcano active in the
Carboniferous period some 300 million years ago. This area is relatively low-lying, although even here hills such as the
Ochils and
Campsie Fells are rarely far from view. In common with the rest of Scotland the whole region was affected by
Pleistocene glaciations.
Human geography
A productive combination of fertile low-lying agricultural land and significant deposits of economically valuable coal and iron have lead to the Central Lowlands being much more densely populated than the rest of Scotland. The major cities of
Glasgow, Edinburgh and
Dundee all lie in the Central Lowlands, and over half of
Scotland's population lives in this region.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Central Lowlands'.
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