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The geography of Scotland is varied, from rural lowlands to barren uplands, and from large cities to uninhabited islands. Located in Northern Europe, Scotland comprises the northern one third of the island of Great Britain as well as 790 surrounding islands encompassing the major archipelagoes of the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and the Inner and Outer Hebrides.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Scotland )〕 Scotland's only land border is with England, which runs for in a northeasterly direction from the Solway Firth in the west to the North Sea on the east coast. Separated by the North Channel, the island of Ireland lies from the southwest tip of the Scottish mainland.〔 Norway is located to the northeast of Scotland across the North Sea. The Atlantic Ocean, which fringes the coastline of western and northern Scotland and its islands, influences the temperate, maritime climate of the country. The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the Highland Boundary Faulta geological rock fracturewhich traverses the Scottish mainland from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. The faultline separates two distinctively different physiographic regions; namely the Highlands to the north and west and the lowlands to the south and east. The more rugged Highland region contains the majority of Scotland's mountainous terrain, including the highest peak, Ben Nevis. Lowland areas, in the southern part of Scotland, are flatter and home to most of the population, especially the narrow waist of land between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth known as the Central Belt.〔 Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, although Edinburgh is the capital and political centre of the country. An abundance of natural resources such as coal, iron and zinc contributed significantly to the industrial growth of Scotland during the 19th and early 20th centuries.〔Lynch, M (2001), Industry to 1770s; pp211 ''Oxford Companion to Scottish History''〕 Today, energy is a major component of Scotland's economy. Whilst Scotland is the largest producer of petroleum in the European Union, the production potential of renewable energy has emerged as an important economic and environmental issue in recent years.〔 ==Geology and geomorphology== (詳細はgeomorphology of Scotland was formed by the action of tectonic plates, and subsequent erosion arising from glaciation. The major division of Scotland is the Highland Boundary Fault, which separates the land into 'highland' to the north and west, and 'lowland' to the south and east. The Highlands of Scotland are largely mountainous, and form the highest ground in the UK: they are bisected by the Great Glen into the Grampian Mountains to the southeast and the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Lowlands can be further subdivided into the Southern Uplands, an area of rolling farmland and high moorland, and the lowland farmland of the Central Belt and eastern Scotland. Scotland has an incomparable variety of geology for an area of its size. It is also the origin of many significant discoveries and important figures in the development of the science. The oldest rocks of Scotland are the Lewisian gneisses, which were formed in the Precambrian period, up to 3,000 Ma (Mega annum or million years ago). They are among the oldest rocks in the world. During the Precambrian, the Torridonian sandstones and the Moine were also laid down. Further sedimentary deposits were formed through the Cambrian period, some of which metamorphosed into the Dalradian series. The area which would become Scotland was at this time close to the south pole.. During the Silurian period (439-409 Ma), the area which became Scotland was part of the continent of Laurentia. Across the Iapetus ocean to the south, was the continent of Baltica. The two continents gradually collided, joining Scotland to the area which would become England and Europe. This event is known as the Caledonian Orogeny, and the Highland Boundary Fault marks this stitching together of continents. Silurian rocks form the Southern Uplands of Scotland, which was pushed up from the seabed during the collision. The highlands were also pushed up as a result of this collision, and may have been as high as the modern-day Alps at this time. The Old Red Sandstones were laid down in low-lying areas during this period. Volcanic activity occurred across Scotland as a result of the collision of the tectonic plates, with volcanoes in southern Scotland, and magma chambers in the north, which today form the granite mountains such as the Cairngorms. During the Carboniferous period (363-290 Ma), Scotland lay close to the equator. Several changes in sea level occurred during this time. The coal deposits of Lanarkshire, and further sedimentary deposits, date from this time. More volcanic activity formed Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, among other hills. By the Triassic, Scotland was a desert, the origin of large sandstone outcrops of the southwest. Although large deposits of Cretaceous rocks would have been laid down over Scotland, these have not survived erosion, as have the chalks of England. By the Tertiary period, the tectonic plates were again moving, separating into modern-day North America and Europe with the creation of the Atlantic Ocean. The split occurred to the west of Scotland, leaving a chain of former volcanic sites through the Hebrides, including Skye and St. Kilda. This was the last period of rock formation in Scotland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Geography of Scotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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