JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE (2007) 22(2) 119–139 Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published online 26 July 2006 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/jqs.1012 Late Devensian and Holocene relative sea-level changes on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK KATHERINE A. SELBY, 1 * and DAVID E. SMITH 2 1 School of Geography, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK 2 Oxford University Centre for the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Selby, K. A. and Smith, D. E. 2006. Late Devensian and Holocene relative sea-level changes on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK. J. Quaternary Sci., Vol. 22 pp. 119–139. ISSN 0267–8179. Received 12 March 2003; Revised 23 September 2005; Accepted 26 January 2006 ABSTRACT: Detailed litho- and biostratigraphical analyses from three coastal sites in contrasting coastal settings on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK, reveal evidence for several changes in relative sea level during the Late Devensian and Holocene. At the start of the record, relative sea level in the area was high at ca. 12 500 14 C (ca. 14 800 cal.) yr BP but then fell, reaching a low point during the Younger Dryas, at ca. 11 000–10 000 14 C (ca. 13 000–11 600 cal.) yr BP, when a rock platform, correlated with the Main Rock Platform, was formed. In the early–middle Holocene, relative sea level was rising by ca. 8000 14 C (ca. 8800 cal.) yr BP and in northeast Skye a lagoonal surface, correlated with the Main Postglacial Shoreline, was formed at ca. 6600 14 C (ca. 7500 cal.) yr BP. By the late Holocene, relative sea level was again falling, but a rise, registered at at least two sites, began prob- ably before ca. 4000 14 C (ca. 4500 cal.) yr BP, and a second lagoonal surface in northeast Skye, cor- related with the Blairdrummond Shoreline, was formed, although by ca. 3000 14 C (ca. 3200 cal.) yr BP relative sea level in the area had resumed its downward trend. The pattern of relative sea-level changes disclosed is compared with evidence elsewhere in Scotland.Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEYWORDS: Main Lateglacial Shoreline; Main Postglacial Shoreline; Blairdrummond Shoreline; isolation basin; diatom analysis; pollen analysis; radiocarbon dating. Introduction There has been a long history of research into former sea levels around Scottish coasts, during which many of the fundamental concepts in studies of relative sea-level change in areas affected by glacio-isostasy have been established. Notwith- standing these achievements, over large areas of the Scottish coastline, knowledge of relative sea-level change remains sket- chy. The research described in this paper aims to contribute to knowledge in one such area, which has hitherto received little attention: the Isle of Skye, off the western coast of the mainland (Fig. 1). The work examines the evidence for relative sea-level changes during the Late Devensian and Holocene at three sites, produces a graph of relative sea-level change for the sites (com- paring the changes identified with evidence from adjacent areas), and assesses the validity of an approach which employs evidence from sites in contrasting coastal settings in determin- ing relative sea-level change. Previous work on relative sea-level changes around Skye On the Isle of Skye, raised shorelines that relate to former high sea levels are marked by raised rock platforms and associated cliffs, and by raised depositional features including terraces and barriers (Richards, 1969, 1971). A high rock platform is present at several locations around the coast at between 17 m and 30 m above the UK levelling datum, Ordnance Datum Newlyn (OD) and is thought to be a composite feature, com- prising isostatically uplifted features that may be at least par- tially interglacial in age (McCann, 1968; Richards, 1969, 1971). Lower rock platforms are particularly prominent in southwest Skye around the Sleat peninsula (Richards, 1969, 1971), where two of the sites in the present study are located. It is possible that the lower rock platforms may be the equiva- lent of the Main Rock Platform observed in other areas of Scot- land and attributed to coastal erosion during the time of the Loch Lomond Readvance (the Younger Dryas stadial) (Sissons, 1974a; Gray, 1978; Dawson, 1980). Raised depositional marine features recognised by previous research workers include possible interglacial cemented grav- els resting upon a rock platform and overlain by till (Richards, * Correspondence to: K. Selby, School of Geography, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK. E-mail: k.a.selby@soton.ac.uk