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Two-stage opening of the Dover Strait and the origin of island Britain
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Two-stage opening of the Dover Strait and the origin of island Britain
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Journal Article
Two-stage opening of the Dover Strait and the origin of island Britain
2017
Overview
Late Quaternary separation of Britain from mainland Europe is considered to be a consequence of spillover of a large proglacial lake in the Southern North Sea basin. Lake spillover is inferred to have caused breaching of a rock ridge at the Dover Strait, although this hypothesis remains untested. Here we show that opening of the Strait involved at least two major episodes of erosion. Sub-bottom records reveal a remarkable set of sediment-infilled depressions that are deeply incised into bedrock that we interpret as giant plunge pools. These support a model of initial erosion of the Dover Strait by lake overspill, plunge pool erosion by waterfalls and subsequent dam breaching. Cross-cutting of these landforms by a prominent bedrock-eroded valley that is characterized by features associated with catastrophic flooding indicates final breaching of the Strait by high-magnitude flows. These events set-up conditions for island Britain during sea-level highstands and caused large-scale re-routing of NW European drainage.
Britain’s separation from mainland Europe is believed to be the result of spillover from a proglacial lake in the North Sea, but this has remained unproven. Here, the authors show that the opening of the Dover Strait occurred in two episodes, where initial lake spillover was followed by catastrophic flooding.
