Ice Age rediscovered: North Sea was ice-free until 1.1 million years ago!

Norwegian geologists have conducted new research into the glacial history of the North Sea and gained interesting insights. Loud Young world Landforms were discovered beneath the sea mud that provide information about the Ice Age. Until about 1.1 million years ago, the North Sea was not iced over and had strong currents.

The studies show a continuous presence of large ice masses from Norway over the area. This calls into question previous assumptions about glacier movements and intermittent thawing. During the Ice Age, the North Sea was covered by glaciers several hundred meters thick. About 12,000 years ago, melting glaciers created deep gorges and high cliffs in the region. This resulting landscape, often referred to as “Doggerland,” was temporarily dry and populated by humans before it was reconquered by the sea around 8,000 years ago.

New findings support changes to the previous model

In order to understand the exact processes of glaciation, there were uncertainties in modeling the advance of the ice masses and their time frame. According to previous models, there were multiple glacier advances and retreats. Now the research team led by Dag Ottesen postulates that the glaciation began 1.9 or 1.8 million years ago. However, their preferred model assumes a one-time advance of the ice cap around 1.1 million years ago.

This advance deposited a layer of boulder clay up to 120 meters thick over an area of ​​10,000 square kilometers. This thesis was verified using 3D seismic images that were originally created for the search for natural gas and oil. In addition, the landforms are described as “pockmarked,” suggesting that they were formed by water from deeper sediments. The seawater also deformed craters and formed elliptical furrows, indicating strong currents in a largely ice-free North Sea until around 1.1 million years ago.

The parallel research results were also published by Scinexx confirmed. The geologists there determined that the North Sea was unicy until around 1.1 million years ago and was resistant to the advances of glaciers from Norway. The newly discovered landforms beneath the North Sea mud, including round "pockmarks" and kilometer-long channels, testify to the strong oceanic currents and help revise previous models that assumed continuous glaciation.