The Cairngorm massif in NE Scotland (Figure 1) is an excellent example of a preglacialudupland landscape formed in granite. Glacial erosion in the mountains hasudbeen largely confined to valleys and corries (Rea, 1998) and so has acted to dissect audpre-existing upland (Figure 2). Intervening areas of the massif experienced negligibleudglacial erosion due to protective covers of cold-based ice (Sugden, 1968) and preserveuda wide range of pre-glacial and non-glacial landforms and regolith. This assemblageudis typical for many formerly glaciated upland and mountain areas around the world.udThe cliffs that sharply demarcate the edges of glacial valleys and corries allow theudmain pre-glacial landforms to be easily identified. The former shape of pre-glacialudvalleys and valley heads can then be reconstructed by extrapolation of contours toudprovide a model of the pre-glacial relief of the Cairngorms (Thomas et al., 2004).udThis relief model (Figure 3) provides a basis for understanding the development ofudthe landscape over timescales of many millions of years, including the role ofudgeology, weathering, fluvial erosion and, lately, glacial erosion in shaping the relief.
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