Scotland's Earth Heritage and Landscape

Scotland’s rocks, fossils, landforms and soils

Introduction: Scotland’s Earth Heritage – The Foundations of the Landscape

Scotland’s Earth heritage forms the bare bones of the landscape and is the very foundation upon which plants, animals and human beings live and interact. Mountains, rocks, fossils, minerals, rivers and the coast, as well as the living soil, are all an integral part of this heritage. They illustrate a wonderful story of how colliding continents, ancient volcanoes, powerful glaciers and changing climates shaped the scenery we see today; of how different life-forms have evolved and of how rivers, floods and sea-level changes continue to modify the landscape. Scotland’s rocks and landforms have played an important part in our understanding of the Earth.

Apparently solid and fixed for all time, this heritage is nevertheless irreplaceable and vulnerable to development pressures and changes in land use. The following text illustrates the diversity of Scotland’s Earth heritage, the pressures upon it and the steps being taken to protect it and promote its wider understanding.

Further information is also available in the abstracts, summary notes and conference proceedings from SNH’s 1999 conference on Earth Science and the Natural Heritage