Portal:Scotland/Selected picture/December, 2010

Satellite image of Scotland

The geography of Scotland is highly varied, from rural lowlands to barren uplands, and from large cities to uninhabited islands. Scotland comprises the northern one third of the island of Great Britain. Aside from the mainland, Scotland is surrounded by 790 islands encompassing the major archipelagoes of the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and the Outer Hebrides. Scotland's only land border is with England, which runs for 96 kilometres (60 mi) in a northeasterly direction from the Solway Firth in the west to the North Sea on the east coast. The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the Highland Boundary Fault – a geological rock fracture – which traverses the Scottish mainland from Helensburgh to Stonehaven.

Photo credit: NASA