The “Tinto Glacier” and some Glacial Features in Clydesdale

Extract

Tinto hill by reason of its height, its massive but shapely form, and its splendid isolation, dominates the whole of middle Clydesdale. It forms an east-west ridge of tadpole-like outline—massive and lofty towards the eastern end and tailing away towards the western extremity, the only point at which it makes contact with the neighbouring uplands. On the east it rises directly from Clydesdale, where its lower slopes pass into a drift-mantled bench, which is from 1 to 2 miles in width. The lower and flatter portions of this bench are covered by a sheet of sand and gravel 30 or more feet above the Clyde flood-plain. The gravel spread extends into the broad open valleys which isolate Tinto to north and south, and is there undergoing dissection by the Glade Burn and Garf Water. The dissection is, however, hardly more than begun, and the undulating and sometimes moundy character of the surface of the gravel sheet reflects the uneven nature of the original deposition. Rising sharply from this surface are certain striking mounds and ridges which have received some mention in geological literature under the name of the Thankerton Kames. They were first noted by Sir Archibald Geikie (2, p. 44),¹ and later described, with a map indicating their extent and distribution, by Professor Gregory (3, p. 474). They have been further discussed by Professor Charlesworth (1, pp. 31–37), who is unable to accept Professor Gregory’s interpretation of the facts. More recently they have been mapped by the officers of the Geological Survey (4), together with the better-known Kames of Carstairs, and in this connection a note by Dr. M. Macgregor on the latter (6) is of some interest.