Carstairs Kames and Eskers

Published geological references identify the famous Carstairs Kames in Lanarkshire, Scotland, about 8 kilometers east of Lanark. The catalog description naming Alberta may refer to a different glacial landform site and should be checked.

Kames are irregular hills or mounds of sand and gravel deposited by glacial meltwater, while eskers are ridges commonly formed by meltwater flowing through or beneath ice. Both are glaciofluvial landforms associated with retreating glaciers.

The Scottish Carstairs features extend for roughly 5.5 kilometers. Some of the associated mounds reach about 20 meters high and are separated by hollows, including kettle-like depressions.

Some studies interpret the ridges as subglacial eskers, while others emphasize supraglacial outwash and ice-marginal deposits. The disagreement concerns the exact meltwater setting during retreat of the last British Ice Sheet.