Southern Uplands

Southern Uplands, belt of hills in southern Scotland, running south-west to north-east for about 145 km (90 mi) across Dumfries and Galloway, southern Strathclyde, and Borders regions, approaching the Cheviots in the south. The hills rise abruptly in the north-east in the Lammermuir range, exceeding 600 m (1,970 ft) in the Moorfoots to their south-west, and falling away in the Borders to the south-east where their boundary is less defined. The range rises to over 800 m (2,625 ft) in the Tweedsmuir Hills just north of Moffat and in the Merrick Kells in the south-west between lochs Doon and Trool. At 843 m (2,765 ft), Merrick is the highest peak in the south of Scotland.

The Southern Uplands belt was formed by a multiple-folded anticline system created during the “Caledonian” (early post-Cambrian) period which also created the North-West Highlands; the peaks' craggy appearance reflects this folding and the disintegration of their greywacke and shale in proximity to granite (which forms many peaks, especially in the south-west). The Uplands are drained southwards via the rivers Nith and Annan, which join the Solway Firth. Mostly alluvial flats, wide, mossy moors, and mountain tableland, the Southern Uplands are used for pasture, and the verdant land is also fertile for grain crops.