title: Two-stage opening of the Dover Strait and the origin of island Britain.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Jenny S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Collier
authors.affiliation: Service of Seismology and Gravimetry, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan, 3, Brussels B-1180, Belgium.|Department of Geology, Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281s.8, Ghent B-9000, Belgium.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garcia-Moreno
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oggioni
authors.affiliation: UMR 8187 LOG CNRS/UFR des Sciences de la Terre, Université de Lille 1, Villeneuve d'Ascq, Plouzané, Lille F-59650, France.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trentesaux
authors.affiliation: Service of Seismology and Gravimetry, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan, 3, Brussels B-1180, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kris
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanneste
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281s.8, Ghent B-9000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Batist
authors.affiliation: Service of Seismology and Gravimetry, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan, 3, Brussels B-1180, Belgium.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Camelbeeck
authors.affiliation: 5 Snowberry Court, Warwick Gardens, Taunton, Somerset TA1 2PZ, UK.
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.affiliation: UMR CNRS 6538 CNRS Géosciences Océan, Université de Bretagne occidentale, IUEM, Plouzané, F-29280, France.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Van Vliet-Lanoë
authors.affiliation: Top-Hole Site Studies Ltd, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1UW, UK.
authors.forename: John C R
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Arthur