Loch Spelve is a
sea loch
''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch.
In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...
on the southeast coast of the
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull ( gd, An t-Eilean Muileach ) or just Mull (; gd, Muile, links=no ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Arg ...
, off the west coast of
Scotland. It is almost landlocked with a relatively narrow opening onto the
Firth of Lorn. The A849 road runs past the northern arm of the loch and a minor road runs south from it and around the shore of the western arm via Kinlochspelve as far as the settlement of
Croggan
Croggan is a small scattered settlement on the Loch Spelve sea loch, in the south of the Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located in the Torosay parish. The nearest village is Lochbuie, Mull, Lochbuie.
References
External linksU ...
. Raised beaches are notable features of the loch, particularly on the shores of the narrows through which it enters the open waters of the firth. There are a few rocky islets within the loch, the largest of which is Eilean Amalaig on which are the ruins of a castle. There is a
terminal moraine at Kinlochspelve dating from the last ice age. The southern and eastern shores of Loch Spelve are formed from
basalt lava flows of
Palaeogene age, intruded by numerous
dolerite dykes. The northern and western shores are formed in
granophyres and
Triassic sandstones, the latter intruded by
olivine-dolerite
cone sheets associated with the Palaeogene
volcanism.
Though unseen at the surface, the
Great Glen Fault
The Great Glen Fault is a strike-slip fault that runs through the Great Glen in Scotland. The fault is mostly inactive today, but occasional moderate tremors have been recorded over the past 150 years.
Location
Aligned northeast to southwest, t ...
is usually considered to run beneath this loch and nearby
Loch Buie
Loch Buie ( gd, Locha Buidhe, meaning "yellow loch") is a sea loch on the south coast of the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland. It takes the form of a deep bay opening onto the Firth of Lorn. At the head of the loch is the settlement of ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spelve, Loch
Sea lochs of Scotland
Lochs of Argyll and Bute
Landforms of the Isle of Mull