Investigation of coastal environmental change at Ruddons Point, Fife, southeast Scotland

Abstract

Ruddons Point, on the Firth of Forth coastline, Scotland, is a laterally extensive terrace of glacial and marine sediment deposits raised above current sea level, situated near to Kincraig Point, a key site that records a series of stepped erosional platforms carved into the local bedrock, interpreted as post Last Glacial Maximum paleoshorelines. The deposits at Ruddons Point continue inland, with exposures of the raised sands and gravels cut by the local river, the Cocklemill Burn. The site provides an opportunity to examine the depositional history through the Late Devensian and Holocene. Geophysical survey aided in interpreting characteristics of subsurface sediments such as the transition between the younger saltmarsh sediments and older underlying sands and clays below, which slope in a northerly direction. A chronology obtained through OSL dating spans from ∼29 ka for sands and clays at an elevation of -0.66 mOD to surface windblown sands at < 300 yrs, at an elevation of 8.45 mOD. A basal peat, dated by radiocarbon dating to the early Holocene at ∼9.2 kThematic collection: This article is part of the Early Career Research collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-researchSupplementary material:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6080999