(occasionally spelled 'solifluxion')

Solifluction deposits (also known as head deposits) result from the movement downslope of saturated soil or bedrock above frozen and impermeable substrata (Evans 1972, 399; Curtis et al. 1976, 158). Such events are usually periodic, resulting in layers of material of different textures (Curtis et al. 1976, 158). Solifluction processes are especially effective in high-latitude and high-altitude regions (Lowe and Walker 1984, 49). Generally, they are induced by periglacial conditions (Evans 1972, 399).

Evans and Spencer (1977, 217) identified a phase of solifluction at the base of a column sample from Buckquoy, Orkney, represented by a 'pale yellow-brown stony loam with large angular stones pitched in all directions', which they attributed to closing stages of the Last Glaciation.

Curtis, L.F., Courtney, F.M., and Trudgill, S., 1976, Soils in the British Isles (London: Longman)

Evans, J.G., 1972, Land Snails in Archaeology (London: Seminar Press)

Evans, J.G., and Spencer, P., 1977, The Mollusca and Environment, Buckquoy, Orkney, in Ritchie, A., Excavation of Pictish and Viking-age Farmsteads at Buckquoy, Orkney, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 108, 174-224

Lowe, J.J., and Walker, M.J.C., 1984, Reconstructing Quaternary Environments (London: Longman)