Arkley, S. L. B., Browne, M. A. E., Albornoz-Parra, L. J. and Barron, H. F. 2011. East Dumbartonshire Geodiversity Audit. British Geological Survey Open Report, OR/09/19. 265pp.
EDC 7: River Kelvin Meanders, Bearsden
Grid reference:
Site type: Natural landform
Site ownership: Not known
Current use: Recreational land
Field surveyor: Sarah Arkley & Luis Albornoz-Parra
Current geological designations: None
Date visited: 6th March 2009
Site map
Summary description
Typical river features seen along a meandering stretch of the River Kelvin on the edge of Bearsden.
This site is one of the best places to observe lower course river features in East Dunbartonshire. The meanders display good examples of river-cliffs and point-bars. The erosive banks found on the outside of the meander are up to 2–2.5 m high, cutting into bedrock in places. The depositional point-bar, made up of soft fine-grained sediment, forms on the inside of the meander.
Towards the northeastern corner of the site a mid-channel bar can also be seen. Located on a meander, the bar creates an eddy flow, where water between the bar and the river bank flows upstream.
EDC 7: Stratigraphy and rock types
Age: Pleistocene Formation: Wilderness Till Formation
Rock type: Glacial deposits: diamicton
Age: Holocene Formation: Kelvin Formation
Rock type: Alluvium deposits: clay, silt, sand and gravel
Assessment of site value
Access and safety
Aspect/Description
Road access and parking Parking is possible north of the meanders at Killermont Golf Club (ask for permission) access to views along the river is possible along the edge of the golf course. The 'Kelvin Walkway' runs along part of the meandering rivers course south of the river
Safety of access Generally open woodland or shrub along the river banks, easy walking
Safety of exposure Be careful of steep or overhanging river banks
Permission to visit Killermont Golf Club for the area north of the river
Current condition Good
Current conflicting activities Stabilisation of the river banks would obscure any natural sections or landforms
Restricting conditions None
Nature of exposure Natural landforms
Culture, heritage & economic
Historic, archaeological & literary associations None known. Rating: 0.
Aesthetic landscape Unspoilt river course, partly wooded at the edge of Glasgow City. Rating: 3.
History of earth sciences None known. Rating: 0.
Economic geology None recorded. Rating: 0.
EDC 7: Geoscientific merit
Total Geoscientific merit score 11
Current site value
Community Popular golf course to the north of the river and public footpath south of the river means people are frequently walking along the site. Rating 10.
Education Reasonable examples of meanders, displaying classic river cliffs and point bars. 'Cut-off' meanders can be seen further upstream in the River Kelvin between Torrance and Kirkintilloch (Torrance Meanders, EDC 36). Rating: 4.
Fragility and potential use of the site
Fragility Erosion
Poential use School, Multidisciplinary
Geodiversity value
This site displays characteristic erosional and depositional river features found in the lower course of a mature river. Although common across Central Scotland, examples of good sized meanders are relatively rare in East Dunbartonshire. The main value of the site is to use these fluvial deposits and landforms which are actively forming today and representative of river landforms forming across Scotland to help us understand the structures and sediments observed in fossil river deposits from the Carboniferous which underlie extensive areas of the Midland Valley. As Charles Lyell summarised in the 1830's “The present is the key to the past”. In the absence of locally active glaciers or volcanoes, rivers are a good example to illustrate the important geological principle of uniformitarianism, explaining that the same natural processes that operate now, have always operated in the past, and at the same rates. Its geodiversity value is enhanced on account of its relative rarity in East Dunbartonshire. Rating: 3.