A great wave: the Storegga tsunami and the end of Doggerland?

Walker, Janice R.; Gaffney, Vincent; Fitch, Simon; Muru, Merle; Fraser, Alasdair; Bates, Martin; Bates, Richard D.

doi:10.15184/aqy.2020.49

Cited by 29 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The shallow palaeobathymetry of this newly submerged topography may have had a significant effect on the wave energy dispersion of the tsunami, concentrating it in some areas, and mitigating it in others. Contrary to earlier propositions, however, the tsunami would not have been the instigator of a permanent sea-level rise (Walker et al, 2020).…”

Section: The Southern North Sea Basincontrasting

confidence: 74%

“…However, a more nuanced understanding is beginning to emerge in the wake of numerical modelling of the wave's dispersal (Hill et al, 2014;Hill et al, 2017), and the discovery of the first confirmed evidence of the tsunami from a submarine context, "core ELF001A" from the "Southern River" submerged river valley, recovered by the Europe's Lost Frontiers team (Gaffney et al, 2020). Clearly the Storegga tsunami hit some of the coastlines of the southern North Sea with considerable force, but the severity of this impact was probably variable (Walker et al, 2020).…”

Section: The Southern North Sea Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rapid sea-level rise around this period means that reconstructing contemporary submerged coastlines is difficult (Cohen et al, 2017), but much of Doggerland appears to have become submerged prior to the tsunami (Walker et al, 2020). This includes much of what is now the Dogger Bank (Emery et al, 2019;Hijma and Cohen 2019), which may have only been partly subaerial-a saltmarsh peat horizon, prior to final inundation, has been dated to 8,140 ± 50 BP (Shennan et al, 2000, 303).…”

Section: The Southern North Sea Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Evidence of the Storegga Tsunami 8200 BP? An Archaeological Review of Impact After a Large-Scale Marine Event in Mesolithic Northern Europe

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Around 8,200 years ago, the Storegga tsunami hit the coasts of the Norwegian and North Seas. This event is well known from wide ranging geological and palaeobotanical work undertaken over the last 30 years. Outside of attempts at palaeodemographic models, however, exploration of the social impact of the wave on Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies living on the coasts of west Norway, the north and east British Isles, and around the southern North Sea basin have been less common. It has been widely assumed that the tsunami was a disaster–but what constituted a disaster for the Mesolithic peoples who lived through this event? What can we learn about life after natural hazards by considering the archaeological material from regions with distinct Mesolithic histories? This paper presents a review of evidence of the Storegga tsunami at Mesolithic sites from western Norway, the Northeast UK, and elsewhere around the southern North Sea basin. We consider the ways in which the social impact of the Storegga tsunami has been studied up till now and suggest an alternative way forward.

show abstract

Section: The Southern North Sea Basincontrasting

confidence: 74%

Section: The Southern North Sea Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Southern North Sea Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evidence of the Storegga Tsunami 8200 BP? An Archaeological Review of Impact After a Large-Scale Marine Event in Mesolithic Northern Europe

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite the magnitude of the Storegga tsunami in the northern North Sea, as evidenced by sediment deposits and predicted by model simulations [4,6,7], there has been a surprising lack of physical evidence to suggest the tsunami reached the southern North Sea (Figure 1) [3,8]. Furthermore, whilst the same model suggests that if the tsunami did reach the southern North Sea the actual impact within this area has been the subject of debate [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, whilst the same model suggests that if the tsunami did reach the southern North Sea the actual impact within this area has been the subject of debate [8]. [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Proxy Characterisation of the Storegga Tsunami and Its Impact on the Early Holocene Landscapes of the Southern North Sea

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Doggerland was a landmass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British landmass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Event, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the northern North Sea, northeast coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase. The spatial extent of the Storegga tsunami however remains unconfirmed as, to date, no direct evidence for the event has been recovered from the southern North Sea. We present evidence of a tsunami deposit in the southern North Sea at the head of a palaeo-river system that has been identified using seismic survey. The evidence, based on lithostratigraphy, geochemical signatures, macro and microfossils and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), supported by optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, suggests that these deposits were a result of the tsunami. Seismic identification of this stratum and analysis of adjacent cores showed diminished traces of the tsunami which was largely removed by subsequent erosional processes. Our results confirm previous modelling of the impact of the tsunami within this area of the southern North Sea, and also indicate that these effects were temporary, localized, and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude that clear physical remnants of the wave in these areas are likely to be restricted to now buried, palaeo-inland basins and incised river valley systems.

show abstract

Guanaco colonisation of Tierra del Fuego Island from mainland Patagonia: Walked, swam, or by canoe?

Franklin

2022

Geography and Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Addressed here is the biogeographical-vexing question of why the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is the only large mammal on the big island of Tierra del Fuego, answered by comparing alternative colonisation hypotheses. A multidisciplinary examination was conducted into the archaeological, ecological, evolutionary, geographical, genomic, glacial and zoological past, plus distribution of native terrestrial vertebrates in the Patagonia of southern South America. Notable disparities exist between main Patagonia (2.5 species/10,000 km 2 ) compared with Tierra del Fuego (1.8). In the similar-sized area of mainland Patagonia just north of the Strait of Magellan there are 12 reptiles, 7 amphibians and 34 mammals = 53 total species; Tierra del Fuego has 13. Despite being the size of Switzerland and only 3.5 km from the mainland, Tierra del Fuego has no species of snakes, salamanders, frogs or turtles, only one lizard, one toad, nine small mammals, one carnivore and one ungulate, the Guanaco.

show abstract

A great wave: the Storegga tsunami and the end of Doggerland?

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 29 publications

References 58 publications

Evidence of the Storegga Tsunami 8200 BP? An Archaeological Review of Impact After a Large-Scale Marine Event in Mesolithic Northern Europe

Evidence of the Storegga Tsunami 8200 BP? An Archaeological Review of Impact After a Large-Scale Marine Event in Mesolithic Northern Europe

Multi-Proxy Characterisation of the Storegga Tsunami and Its Impact on the Early Holocene Landscapes of the Southern North Sea

Guanaco colonisation of Tierra del Fuego Island from mainland Patagonia: Walked, swam, or by canoe?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About