Loch Assynt
| Loch Assynt | ||
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| Loch Assynt | ||
| Geographical location | Scotland | |
| Tributaries | River Loanan , Traligill Burn, Allt a 'Chalda Mòr | |
| Drain | River Inver → Loch Inver → The Minch | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 58 ° 10 ′ 30 ″ N , 5 ° 2 ′ 30 ″ W | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 66 m | |
| surface | 8 km² | |
| length | 10 km | |
| width | 1 km | |
| volume | 0.247.6 km³ | |
| Maximum depth | 86 m | |
| Middle deep | 31 m | |
| Catchment area | 69 km² | |
Loch Assynt is a freshwater lake in the Scottish Highlands . It is located about eight kilometers east of Lochinver and about twelve kilometers west of Loch Shin in County Sutherland .
Loch Assynt has the typical elongated shape of a lake created by glaciers in the Ice Age . It is about ten kilometers long and a maximum of one kilometer wide. The greatest depth of the lake is 86 meters. Loch Assynt is 66 m above sea level and drains over the river Inver , which flows into the Atlantic at Lochinver .
On the north shore of the lake on a peninsula is the ruin of the former castle of the MacLeods of Assynt - the Ardvreck Castle , adjacent to the ruins of Calda House . Apart from the tiny village of Inchnadamph , which consists of only a few homesteads, there are no other villages on the shore of the lake. Although Loch Assynt is in a very sparsely populated area, the lake can be easily reached by car via the A837 and A894 , which meet on the north bank near the ruins. Only the south side of the lake is not accessed by any road.
Not far from the north bank is the Assyntic Discordance . Here, the Lewisian gneiss, which is around 3 billion years old, is supported by younger sandstones and quartzites from the torridonium (around 1 billion years old). In 1912, this region was a destination for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, led by Benjamin Neeve Peach and John Horne . Participants included Emil Tietze , Maurice Lugeon , Émile Haug and Elisabeth Jeremine . The expedition members stayed in the Inchnadamph Hotel , east of the lake , which became famous among experts. The aim was to explore the Moine Thrust Zone together.
Loch Assynt is surrounded by the typical almost treeless landscape of the Northern Highlands. Only on a few small parts of the bank and on some islands in the lake are a few - partly dead - trees. This barren environment gives the lake a harsh beauty that clearly distinguishes it from the idyllic lochs in southern Scotland.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ geological relationships at www.scottishgeology.com ( Memento of the original from August 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
