HOST Classification

HOST class 5

Geology:

fluvioglacial sands and gravels or windblown sands, some coarse morainic drift

Landforms:

quite variable. includes raised beach, windblown links and dunes (Culbin, Tentsmuir and Gullane) as well as high level river terraces (in Scotland at least) and the parallel roads of Glen Roy. The fluvioglacial deposits can be either moundy with long sinuous ridges or gently sloping outwash plains (e.g. around Forres in North-east Scotland).

Soils:

freely drained (wetness class I) humus-iron podzols and brown earths with brown calcareous soils, calcareous regosols, alluvial sands and gravel, and regosols. Found throughout Scotland but primarily south and east of the Great Glen.

Vegetation:

varies from natural marram grassland through heather moorland to coniferous plantation but the dominant land use is arable and permanent pasture.

Flow:

flow through these soils and substrates is largely laminar and intergranular.

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