The coastal features of the Island of Rhum in the Inner Hebrides

Synopsis The coast of Rhum is essentially one of cliffs and steep rock and debris slopes of great height, which are in part fossil forms undergoing modification due to present marine erosion at base. The presence, especially along the south-west facing coast of the island which is developed in Tertiary igneous rocks, of elevated marine platforms and raised beach deposits makes it possible to define at least five phases of marine activity which have contributed to the evolution of the coastline. A high-level marine rock platform, probably composite in origin, represents the first recognisable phase of marine erosion and may be correlated with the ‘pre-glacial’ shoreline of the Western Isles defined by W. B. Wright (1911).