Glacial and post-glacial history of the lower reaches of the River Don, Aberdeenshire

The pre-glacial valley of the River Don lay to the south of the present course through the Balgownie rock gorge. As a result of two glaciations, the first from the west and the second from the south, the whole area was covered by sandy boulder clay (to about 60 ft. above O. D.) overlain by thick deposits of fluvioglacial sands and gravels. In post-glacial times the River Don flowed over a surface of glacial deposits and was superimposed on the pre-glacial rock surface in which it subsequently cut the Balgownie rock gorge. River erosion has now removed much of the glacial debris which blocked the old valley in Seaton Haugh.