Nivation landforms and snowpatch erosion on two massifs in the Northern Highlands of Scotland

On the An Teallach massif, nivation hollows have developed in Holocene deposits of niveo‐aeolian sand. During the spring melt, considerable quantities of reworked windblown sand and sediment eroded from the lateral scarps are transported by nival meltwater across the gentle (1–5°) treads of the hollows and deposited in small cones downslope. Other processes associated with nivation (accelerated chemical weathering and solifluction, intensive freeze‐thaw activity and snow‐creep transport) are unimportant under present conditions at this site. On Ben Wyvis, nivation landforms take the form of benches developed on frost‐weathered regolith. These benches are relict features; vegetation cover inhibits erosion by nival meltwater and other nivation processes appear to be inoperative. In sum, these observations suggest that present snowpatch erosion at the sites investigated is largely restricted to redistribution of cohesionless sediments by wash, and that even this process is of only local significance.