The Loch Ness Geographical and Geological Characteristics

Loch Ness is part of the Great Glen or Glen Mor in Gaelic, it runs from Inverness in the North to Fort William in the South and it’s made up of many lochs, three of the most important ones are Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness.

The loch is a tectonic lake resulting from a movement in the earth crust.

Around 500 million years ago tremors opened up a crack,  that is now Loch Ness.

After the last Ice Age, that crack was full of water, therefore the loch was formed.

Tremors can still be felt around the loch, the last one was in December 1997. The hills surrounding the loch are still rising by 1mm per year.

The loch is connected with the Caledonian Canal which was built by Scottish engineers Thomas Telford; its construction took 19 years and was opened in 1822.

Interesting Facts about Loch Ness

Ø      Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in Britain.

Ø     It’s around 22½ miles long and between 1 and 1½ miles wide.

Ø      Depth: 786 feet.

Ø      It has 263 thousand million cubic feet of water.

Ø      It’s fed by 7 rivers: The Oich, Tarff, Enrich, Coiltie, Moriston, Foyers and Farigaig and many burns, with only one outlet, the River Ness which flows 7 miles through Inverness into the Moray Firth 52 feet below the loch surface.

Ø     The Loch never freezes.

Ø      During heavy rainfall the loch level rises by 7 feet.

Ø      The temperature of the water changes at about 100 feet down in the loch. The top 100 feet of water alters temperature depending on the weather conditions, but below 100 feet, the water is warm. This can cause the loch to steam on very cold days.

Ø      The area is still seismically active and suffers an average of 4 earthquakes per century at Richter Scale 4. The last ones were in 1888, 1890,1901 and 1997. The most severe locally recorded was on 1816 which was felt over most of Scotland.

Ø     It’s one of Scotland’s most visited places. Nearly 4,000,000 tourists a year.

Ø      The water is full of sediments and peat.