In Scottish geography, a Carse (the modern form of older Scots ;

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

or ) is an area of fertile, low-lying (typically

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

) land occupying certain Scottish river valleys, such as that of the

River Forth The River Forth is a major river in central Scotland, long, which drains into the North Sea on the east coast of the country. Its drainage basin covers much of Stirlingshire in Scotland's Central Belt. The Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic name for the ...

Carse of Forth

The Carse of Forth contrasts with the

Ochil Hills The Ochil Hills (; ) is a range of hills in Scotland north of the River Forth, Forth valley bordered by the cities of Stirling, Perth, Scotland, Perth and the towns of Alloa, Kinross, and Auchterarder . The only major roads crossing the hil ...

to the north, from which it is separated by the

Ochil Fault The Ochil Fault is the geological feature which defines the southern edge of the Ochil Hills escarpment in Scotland. North of the fault, Devonian lava flows and pyroclastic deposits slope gently down, thinning towards the north. These are in p ...

. The carse is generally so flat that, except in the case of

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

s, such as that on which the small town of Alva is situated, it has only reached a height of about 9 metres above sea level at the

, typically two or more miles from the river. In the case of the

, the carse extends some considerable distance above and below

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

, where due to constraints such as the Abbey Craig to the north and the castle rock, on which the town is based, to the south, it is very narrow. The carse typically offers good agricultural land, however underlying the topsoil and alluvium is glacial boulder clay. In other places, especially in the west, the carse was overlain by

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muske ...

s such as Flanders Moss, much of which has been cleared to improve agriculture.

Other carses

* Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire, near Blairgowrie * Carse of Lecropt near Bridge of Allan, Stirling * Carse of Stirling * Carse of Ae * Carse of Falkirk *Carse of

Blair Drummond Blair Drummond is a small rural community northwest of Stirling in the Stirling (council area), Stirling district of Scotland, predominantly located along the A84 road. Lying to the north of the River Forth, the community is within the registrat ...

, Stirling * Friar's Carse, Dumfries and Galloway * Carsphairn *The Carse (Inverness) *Kinneil Kerse (West Lothian) *Carse of Raddery (Ross and Cromarty) *Carse Knowe (West Lothian) *Kerse (Ayrshire) *East Kerse Mains (West Lothian) *Carsethorn (Kirkcudbright), Dumfries and Galloway *Carse Grey estate near Forfar, plus nearby Carseburn and Carsebank (Angus)

References

Geography of Scotland Landforms {{Topography-stub