The British Isles were regularly buried beneath advancing ice sheets as early as 2.5 million years ago, more than 1 million years earlier than previously thought.

Until now, researchers thought ice sheets didn't advance across Britain until 1.1 million years ago, but new analysis of sediment cores and seismic data collected from deep beneath the North Sea suggests most of the North Atlantic islands were routinely covered in ice 1.4 million years earlier.

Ice sheets also covered Scandinavia, and as early as 1.9 million years ago, the ice sheets stretching across Britain and Northern Europe met at the center of the North Sea.

The North Sea was narrower and deeper during this period, like a giant fjord, and as ice advanced into the water, ice bergs measuring nearly 1,000 feet high were generated.

Britain wasn't always completely submerged beneath ice. The ice sheets retreated and advanced as the region experienced shifts in climate.

Scientists from universities across Britain and Europe used a multidisciplinary approach to trace the history of ice across the region.

"The North Sea basin has been subsiding for millions of years, continually preserving layer upon layer of evidence for past ice sheets, the evidence for which is not available onshore," University of Manchester scientist Rachel Harding said in a news release. "Using geophysical data we then searched these different layers for traces of long-disappeared ice sheets."

Researchers published the results of their analysis this week in the journal Science Advances.

"From these results we discovered that if you were to visit the North Sea 2.5 million years ago, Britain would have been under an ice sheet and you would have seen massive icebergs floating around the North Sea and as far south as the coast of the Netherlands," said Andrew Newton, researcher at Queen's University Belfast.

Related Links
Beyond the Ice Age

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

What saved the West Antarctic Ice Sheet 10000 years ago will not save it today
Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Jun 14, 2018
The retreat of the West Antarctic ice masses after the last Ice Age was reversed surprisingly about 10,000 years ago, scientists found. This is in stark contrast to previous assumptions. In fact it was the shrinking itself that stopped the shrinking: relieved from the weight of the ice, the Earth crust lifted and triggered the re-advance of the ice sheet. However, this mechanism is much to slow to prevent dangerous sea-level rise caused by West Antarctica's ice-loss in the present and near future. ... read more