Southern Uplands is a name generally given to the rolling uplands of the Border country of southern Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders lying south of the Southern Uplands fault. This geological fault line stretches from the northern tip of the Rhins of Galloway to Dunbar on the east coast, separating the Border Country from the industrialised landscapes of the Midland Valley to the north. The Southern Uplands includes several ranges of hills such as the Lammermuir Hills, Moorfoot Hills, Lowther Hills, Tweedsmuir Hills, Moffat Hills, Ettrick Hills, Carsphairn Hills, Galloway Hills and Roxburgh and Cheviot Hills as well as deeply incised river valleys such as Nithsdale, Annandale, Eskdale, Teviotdale, Liddesdale, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, all of which form important routeways. Dominated by sedimentary rocks of the Ordovician and Silurian periods, the hills of the Southern Uplands are generally rounded and often covered by peat. The highest of these hills is Merrick which rises to 843m (2765 feet). Prominent granite features resulting from Caledonian igneous intrusions include the Rhinns of Kells, Criffell and Cairnsmore of Fleet in Galloway.
