Fluvial Landforms of Glen Feshie and the Spey Drainage Basin

The Spey drainage basin incorporates a classic assemblage of fluvial landforms recording both their evolution during the Lateglacial and Holocene and the operation of present-day fluvial processes. Noteworthy examples of relict and active alluvial fans occur alongside major sequences of river terraces. Although most reaches of wandering gravel-bed rivers within the drainage basin are relatively stable today, active meanders and braided reaches (notably in Glen Feshie) provide an opportunity to assess the operation of present-day processes. Sediment reworked by fluvial processes from glacigenic sources—notably undercut terraces and fans—is often boulder-sized, creating a high threshold for subsequent re-entrainment. Whilst relatively frequent floods generate channel change in some wandering gravel-bed rivers, other fluvial assemblages such as mountain torrents and large fans are only reworked during rare floods.