The Cairngorm Mountains comprise the largest continuous area of high ground above 1000m in Britain, with most of the highest peaks in Scotland. These high and distinctive glacially sculptured mountain massifs are surrounded by open moorland and glens. The climate reflects a unique combination of oceanic and continental influences. A diversity of landforms and associated deposits provide invaluable insights into processes of mountain landscape evolution in a maritime, mid-latitude setting, and illustrate evolution and environmental change.
Relics of geomorphological processes which have survived the effects of glaciation are exceptional for their scale of development. Landforms and deposits associated with the melting of the ice sheet add to the landscape history and geomorphological diversity. Climate change and vegetation development are recorded in sediments, with plant remains and pollen grains preserved in loch basins and peat bogs allowing detailed reconstructions of palaeoenvironmental conditions.