Raised Beaches on Islay
Monday, January 22 2007
Raised beaches can be found in several parts of the world and are rather common in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Examples are Donegan Bay in Ireland, Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay in Wales and Widemouth Bay in Cornwall. Islay has it's own raised beaches as well and they can be found on the north side of Loch Indaal and are best visible between Bridgend and Bruichladdich.
What is a raised beach? There is a good explanation available on Wikipedia:
A raised beach is an emergent coastal landform. Raised beaches are beaches or wave cut platforms raised above the shore line by a relative fall in the sea level. This could be due to an actual fall in the water level such as may be caused by the partial draining of a lake or a river cutting its way into a deeper channel. It may also be as a result of the isostatic recovery of the land. This is where the accumulation of ice sheets have depressed the land so that when the ice sheets melts the land readjusts with time thus raising the height of the beaches. More frequently a raised beach is formed when tectonic activity, such as earthquakes which cause the level of the land to rise.
The raised beaches on Islay are remains of the last ice-age. The huge mass of the ice compressed the land underneath which caused it to sink. When the ice melted the weight was lifted off which caused the land to slowly rise to its current levels and this process is still taking place today.
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