Barron, H F, Gillespie, M R and Merritt, J W 2011. Geodiversity of the Cairngorms National Park. British Geological Survey Open Report, OR/10/019
A PDF of this report is available from the NORA, the NERC archive
Site no.: Q3
Site name: Gaick Lodge (Central Gaick Breach)
Grid reference:
Locality: The steep-sided glen bisecting the Gaick Plateau centred on Gaick Lodge and including Loch an t- Seilich and Loch Bhrodainn
GCR Status: N/A
GCR No.: N/A
Type: Landform assemblage
Description: The glen centred on Gaick Lodge forms part of a major glacial breach through the main east-west watershed of the Grampian Highlands. The glen includes a wide range of slope-related features, glaciofluvial landforms and moraines. Notable rock slope failures occur on buttresses west of the lodge and within the glen of the Allt Gharbh Ghaig, to the east, where there is a jumbled array of steep-sided, boulder-strewn, conical mounds
Justification: This glen is a good example of a glacial breach and it is important in the study of long-term landscape evolution of the Grampian Highlands. The glen also contains excellent, pristine examples of alluvial fans, debris cones, rock slope failures and tension cracks. The latter rise and branch diagonally up the flanks of Srón Bhuirich and A' Chaoirnich and are indicative of weak slope deformation and compression.