Carlops Meltwater Channels

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 55.7786, -3.3579

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Also within

Midlothian CountyTweeddale County

Condition (NatureScot)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
F1 Quaternary of Scotland Favourable — 2015-04-13

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Landscape processes: Glacial, Karst

Description

Carlops Meltwater Channels Carlops Meltwater Channels SSSI is located 21 km south-west of Edinburgh. The channels are important glacial meltwater landforms. The meltwater channel system is an outstanding assemblage of subglacial meltwater channels, and is part of an extensive glacial drainage system running south-west to north-east from the Clyde Valley to the Firth of Forth. This site is in two parts comprising two distinct groups of channels, one to the south-west of Carlops around Windy Gowl and Carlops Dean, and the other in Newhall Glen. The channels to the south-west of Carlops are cut in bedrock and range in depth from 1 m to over 20 m. In plan, they form an anastomosing pattern with a number of isolated rock "islands” occurring within the larger channels. Channel profiles are unusual, rising and then falling in the former direction of water movement. There are discordant junctions as well as channels that trend obliquely across slopes. Several of the channels cut across the present drainage divides. To the north-east of Carlops, the channels cut into an area of glaciofluvial deposition and join the major meandering channel, over 30 m deep, which is now occupied by the River North Esk. These landforms were created by meltwater running underneath the last ice sheet at the end of the Late Devensian glaciation, around 14,000 years ago. The site is important for research on glacial meltwater processes and ice sheet dynamics.

Plant communities

A9 — Fast flowing river and stream, Marginal and inundation, Pond ditch and canal, Sluggish river and stream

Potamogeton natans community

Schoenoplectus lacustris, Juncus bulbosus, Sparganium angustifolium, Sparganium erectum, Sparganium minimum, Alisma plantago-aquatica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Lemna trisulca, Nymphaea alba, Callitriche platycarpa, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus trichophyllus, Glyceria fluitans, Chara subspinosa

A14 — Fast flowing river and stream

Myriophyllum alterniflorum community

Isolepis fluitans, Juncus bulbosus, Fontinalis antipyretica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton filiformis, Potamogeton gramineus, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus peltatus, Chara spp., Nitella hyalina

A17 — Chalk river and stream, Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans community

Berula erecta, Nasturtium officinale, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Veronica beccabunga, Polygonum amphibium, Polygonum hydropiper, Potamogeton crispus, Potamogeton pectinatus, Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans

A18 — Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus fluitans community

Fontinalis antipyretica, Fontinalis squamosa var. curnowii, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Myriophyllum spicatum, Elodea canadensis, Mentha aquatica, Lemna gibba, Lemna minor, Potamogeton perfoliatus, Ranunculus fluitans, Glyceria fluitans, Phalaris arundinacea