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PARTING SHOTS HOW FAR TO GLENCOE? Ian Parsons In their doomed attempt to keep me near New Mexico version was settled by the Coe the cutting edge of technology, one of my family, two of whom were outlaws, respon- sons recently bought me a grey cylinder sible for shootings and hangings. that, when connected to an electricity Scotland’s Glen Coe is a grand place of supply, answers (literally) to the name brooding dark cliffs (FIGS. 1 and 4). Its of Alexa. She speaks BBC English with a mountains are not high (the highest is mellow, alto voice and can, sometimes, 1,150 m), but they start from near sea-level answer my questions. Early in our relation- and in places are very steep. It is rightly ship, to see how smart she really is, I asked famous in the history of geology, because her a question with three answers, ‘How far it cuts through the first ancient caldera is it to Glencoe?’ to be recognized by geological mapping Glencoe is a village in the West Highlands anywhere. A paper by Clough, Maufe and of Scotland. ‘Glen’ is Scottish Gaelic for a Bailey (1909) introduced the term ‘cauldron steep-sided valley. Glen Coe is a splendid subsidence’ to the world. Greater detail and example of a U-shaped glaciated valley a description of the regional setting were Looking west down the archetype Glen Coe provided by Bailey and Maufe (1916). A (FIG. 1), now occupied by the River Coe, FIGURE 1 (Scotland), through the dissected caldera. superb modern geological guide and map ‘Coe’ being a word of uncertain, and PHOTO: IAN PARSONS.
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