Soil-landscape endemism: The Glasserton Rigs of the Machars Peninsula, Scotland

This paper describes an endemic soil-landscape — the Glasserton Rigs, which are situated on the southern end of the Machars Peninsula in south-west Scotland. The Glasserton Rigs are limited in extent to about 25 km2. In this once glacial environment, the Glasserton Rigs are an extensive arrangement of thin, elongated rocky ridges of vertically dipping Silurian greywacke with common strike, together with an equally complex distribution of greywacke- and glacial-till-derived soils upon and between them. The soils of the Glasserton Rigs are not necessarily rare or unique; however their arrangement and occurrence in this particular landscape are quite unique and consequently endemic. For that reason, the Glasserton Rigs are of high cultural value.