About Loch Ness

Loch Ness from Urquhart Castle

Loch Ness is the largest of three lochs located in the Great Glen, which itself divides Scotland along a line running from Fort William to Inverness. Loch Ness also has the greatest depth.

Loch Ness Facts & Figures

Length: 23 miles (37km)
Width: 1 mile (1.6km ) at widest point.
Depth: 600 ft (182.8m) on average, 786 ft (239.5m) at deepest point
Surface area: 21.8 square miles (56.4 km²)
Volume: ca 1.8 cubic miles (7.4km³) of freshwater
Height: 52 ft (15.8m) above sea level
Average water temperature: 5.5° C (42°F)

Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area and the largest by volume. Because of its great depth - it is deeper than the North Sea - it contains more freshwater than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. With a depth of 1017 ft (310m) only Loch Morar is deeper. For many years the deepest point of Loch Ness was thought to be 754 ft but in 1992 a new maximum depth of 786 ft (239.5m) was recorded. There is a layer of sediment at the bottom of the loch which is up to 25 metres deep. Below that is a layer of clay of unknown thickness and then the bedrock is reached.

Otters

Loch Ness Geographical Location

Loch Ness is situated south west of Inverness on the Great Glen fault line which divides the Grampian Mountains from the northern Highlands. At its southern end, Loch Ness is connected to the River Oich and by a section of the Caledonian Canal to Loch Oich itself, while at the northern end the loch opens into Loch Dochfour which feeds the River Ness and the Caledonian Canal. There are four lochs in the Great Glen - Loch Ness, Loch Oich, Loch Lochy and Loch Linnhe, the last of which is a sea loch. Loch Ness lies at roughly the same latitude as Hudson Bay.

Loch Ness Geology

Loch Ness was formed towards the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago when the Great Glen was filled by a huge glacier. At the same time as Loch Ness was formed, the glacial erosion along this line of weakness also carved out Loch Lochy and Loch Oich and together the lochs form one of the finest examples of glacial scouring found along such a fault. As the glacier moved over the landscape it dislocated rocks and rubble along its path and as this load accumulated and the ice dragged it further, the sheer weight and tumbling action of the loose rocks ground away the softer bedrock below thus creating the floor of Loch Ness. Earlier seismic activity along the fault line had produced a shatter belt of rock and the ease with which the erosion could move this accounts for the precise shape of Loch Ness. The U-shaped valley, which is today occupied by Loch Ness and the Great Glen, is one of the greatest glacial troughs in the British Isles. The floor of the loch is remarkably flat and smooth and the sides rise so steeply that there is almost no aquatic vegetation. Also, the lack of islands illustrates the sheer force of the glacial scouring and its contribution to the depth of Loch Ness.

Kingfisher spotted in the Loch Ness area

Most of the basement rock on either side of Loch Ness is metamorphic, most commonly schists. Field studies continue in this area and work has shown that there could be a 200 million year difference in the ages of the rock on either side of Loch Ness.

There is a build up of sediment where the River Foyers enters the loch about half way along the south side which roughly forms two basins in the loch. In general sediment is deposited in Loch Ness at a rate of 1mm per year.

There is still seismic activity along the Great Glen Fault but only minor tremors have been recorded during the last 150 years.

Loch Ness Fish Species

Because of the very high peat content of the water in Loch Ness visibility is greatly restricted and it is only possible to see through the top five feet of water. The depth of Loch Ness is totally obscured by this colouration. However several species of fish have been recorded in the loch, the commonest being salmon (salmo salar), brown and sea trout (salmo trutta), eel (anguilla anguilla), charr (salvelinus alpinus) and sturgeon (acipenser sturio). Pike, sticklebacks, perch, roach, dace, rudd, carp and minnows can also be found. The fact that the water never freezes no matter how hard the winter has an influence on the aquatic life found in the loch.

Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness

Loch Ness Inflows and Outflows

The catchment area for Loch Ness is hilly and wet and extends to a vast 1775 km² and is drained by seven rivers. These are the Rivers Oich (at Fort Augustus), Tarff (Fort Augustus), Foyers (Foyers), Farigaig (Inverfarigaig), Enrick (Drumnadrochit), Coiltie (Drumnadrochit) and Moriston (Invermoriston). There are also a number of smaller burns running into the loch.

The only natural outlet is the River Ness at the north end of the loch where Loch Dochfour feeds into both the river and the Caledonian Canal.

The height of Loch Ness above sea level is usually given as 52 feet, but this can vary significantly depending on rainfall and the amount of water released by the hydro electric schemes. This release is regulated to prevent flooding in Inverness.

Loch Ness Islands

The dramatic scraping action of the glacier which created Loch Ness approximately 10,000 years ago was so severe that, unlike in some other lochs, almost no rock was left standing to form islands. At the southern end of the water, near Fort Augustus, the remains of a crannog (Iron Age fort) known as Cherry Island, can be seen but as this was man-made it cannot be regarded as a true island. Another island, Dog Island, was submerged when the water level rose by six feet during construction of the Caledonian Canal, although adding only a tiny amount to the overall depth of Loch Ness.

We welcome you to the Nessieland Castle Monster Centre on your visit to the Highlands of Scotland.

We BELIEVE in the monster.

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