>>Britain became separated from mainland Europe after a catastrophic flood some time before 200,000 years ago, a sonar study of the English Channel confirms…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6904675.stm
Can anybody explain this one to me?
I always thought that the British Isles were joined to the rest of Europe until the end of the last ice age about 10-12000 years ago and that large areas of the north sea were grassland and populated by palaeolithic man (between ice ages) The article suggests that we were separated from Europe 200000 years ago instead, so did the sea level later fall again creating a vast valley between the southeast and France, and the areas of Doggerland further north, or am I missing something from this picture?
-Chris
"And even when water was locked up in giant ice sheets and sea levels plummeted, the Rhine and the Thames rivers would have dumped meltwater into a major river system that flowed along the Channel's floor."
The 30m of chalk that held back the lake were breached, and once the water had drained, it would have been a valley with rivers running through it.
I suppose ;)