Burn O Vat Scotland

by Carol Wisniewski

Title

Burn O Vat Scotland

Artist

Carol Wisniewski

Medium

Painting - Watercolor

Description

Burn O'Vat is an example of a pothole, located close to Loch Kinord, near the village of Dinnet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Around 16 000 years ago, the area surrounding Burn O'Vat was covered by a glacial ice sheet. As the area warmed around 14 000 years ago the ice sheet began to melt, resulting in a torrent of meltwater that carried debris previously caught up in the glacial ice. A piece of this debris, consisting of rocks and boulders, is likely to be the most important component of the formation of Burn O'Vat.

Such a rock, from the meltwater stream, became lodged in a small hollow on the river bed, causing the meltwater to flow around it in a spiralling motion. This spiralling motion caused the bed underneath the rock to erode creating, over time, a feature known as a pothole.

Around 13 500 years ago the volume of meltwater decreased to such a level that the stream began to deposit more than it eroded. This change resulted in the deposition of sand and gravel into the bottom of the pothole. It is believed that this sediment extends down around 5�7 metres, below the current ground level.

The pothole, known locally as 'The Vat', measures 18 metres across and 13 metres high, from present ground level.

Approximately 12 000 years ago, the entrance to the vat was exposed when the rock in front of it was undercut by the same stream that formed the vat, albeit in the form of a waterfall

Uploaded

June 24th, 2011

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