Scotland's Earth Heritage and Landscape

Soils

photo: Soil formations reminiscent of sub-tropical Africa, known as laterites, baked hard by the lavas of Skye

Soils are as much a component of the natural heritage as the underlying rocks and landforms, plants and animals. They are an integral part of the landscape, reflecting not only the natural processes from which they have been formed, but also the influences of human activities present and past. In Scotland, all the soils we see today have formed since the last glaciers melted around 10.000 years ago. The ever-evolving nature of soils, however, means that they are being continually formed and modified both by natural processes and by human activities. These interactions are responsible for the wide range of soils which exist in Scotland today.

Further information on Scotland’s soils can be found in the section on Soils and the living landscape within our pages on Scotlands’s rocks, fossils, landforms and soils

More detailed information on soils in Scotland can be found in the Soils and Boglands booklets in SNH’s : Scotland’s Living Landscape series.

Further online information on Soils and SNHs work and publications on soils can be found here.

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