65-576: Doggerland was an area of land in Northern Europe , now submerged beneath the southern North Sea . This region was repeatedly exposed at various times during the Pleistocene epoch due to the lowering of sea levels during glacial periods , though the term "Doggerland" is generally specifically used for this region during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene . During the early Holocene following
130-430: A hammerstone flint on the seabed 40 km (25 mi) off the coast of Cromer , Norfolk, from a depth of 32 m (105 ft), which could point to the existence of prehistoric settlements. An internationally significant early Middle Palaeolithic finds assemblage from the southern North Sea was also discovered through aggregate dredging off the coast of Norfolk. The cultural material was found to be associated with
195-537: A temperate grassland , restricting southern tundra to coastal Antarctica and its islands. The flora and fauna of Antarctica and the Antarctic Islands (south of 60° south latitude) are protected by the Antarctic Treaty . Alpine tundra does not contain trees because the climate and soils at high altitude block tree growth. The cold climate of the alpine tundra is caused by the low air temperatures, and
260-668: A channel through the anticline, leading to the formation of the Channel River , which carried the combined waters of the Rhine, the Scheldt, and the Thames to the Atlantic. This probably created the potential for Great Britain to become isolated from the continent during periods of high sea level, although some scientists argue that the final break did not occur until a second ice-dammed lake overflowed during
325-509: A floodplain deposit of the now submerged Palaeo-Yare river system. Ancient artefacts have been found by beachcombers in material dredged from the sea bottom 13 km (8.1 mi) offshore and spread on a Dutch beach in 2012 , as a coastal protection measure. 52.°N 3°E / 52°N 3°E / 52; 3 Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of
390-750: A local climate in which at least one month has an average temperature high enough to melt snow (0 °C (32 °F)), but no month with an average temperature in excess of 10 °C (50 °F). The cold limit generally meets the EF climates of permanent ice and snows ; the warm-summer limit generally corresponds with the poleward or altitudinal limit of trees, where they grade into the subarctic climates designated Dfd , Dwd and Dsd (extreme winters as in parts of Siberia ), Dfc typical in Alaska, Canada, mountain areas of Scandinavia , European Russia , and Western Siberia (cold winters with months of freezing). Despite
455-573: A team at the University of Birmingham led by Vince Gaffney and Ken Thomson mapped around 23,000 km (8,900 sq mi) of the Early Holocene landscape, using seismic data provided for research by Petroleum Geo-Services , as part of the work of the University of Birmingham North Sea Palaeolandscapes Project. The results of this study were published as a technical monograph and a popular book on
520-479: Is a risk of wildfire, such as the 1,039 km (401 sq mi) of tundra which burned in 2007 on the north slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Such events may both result from and contribute to global warming. Carbon emissions from permafrost thaw contribute to the same warming which facilitates the thaw, making it a positive climate change feedback . The warming also intensifies Arctic water cycle , and
585-449: Is characterized by plants that grow close to the ground, including perennial grasses , sedges , forbs , cushion plants , mosses , and lichens . The flora is adapted to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season. Tundra climates ordinarily fit the Köppen climate classification ET , signifying
650-430: Is composed of dwarf shrubs , sedges , grasses , mosses , and lichens . Scattered trees grow in some tundra regions. The ecotone (or ecological boundary region) between the tundra and the forest is known as the tree line or timberline. The tundra soil is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus . The soil also contains large amounts of biomass and decomposed biomass that has been stored as methane and carbon dioxide in
715-630: Is light, evaporation is also relatively minimal. During the summer, the permafrost thaws just enough to let plants grow and reproduce, but because the ground below this is frozen, the water cannot sink any lower, so the water forms the lakes and marshes found during the summer months. There is a natural pattern of accumulation of fuel and wildfire which varies depending on the nature of vegetation and terrain. Research in Alaska has shown fire-event return intervals (FRIs) that typically vary from 150 to 200 years, with dryer lowland areas burning more frequently than wetter highland areas. The biodiversity of tundra
SECTION 10
#1732858641308780-694: Is low: 1,700 species of vascular plants and only 48 species of land mammals can be found, although millions of birds migrate there each year for the marshes. There are also a few fish species. There are few species with large populations. Notable plants in the Arctic tundra include blueberry ( Vaccinium uliginosum ), crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum ), reindeer lichen ( Cladonia rangiferina ), lingonberry ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea ), and Labrador tea ( Rhododendron groenlandicum ). Notable animals include reindeer (caribou), musk ox , Arctic hare , Arctic fox , snowy owl , ptarmigan , northern red-backed voles , lemmings ,
845-404: Is similar to polar climate . Alpine tundra is generally better drained than arctic soils. Alpine tundra transitions to subalpine forests below the tree line; stunted forests occurring at the forest-tundra ecotone (the treeline ) are known as Krummholz . Alpine tundra can be affected by woody plant encroachment . Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide. The flora of the alpine tundra
910-711: The Hook of Holland , rather than across the Strait of Dover. The Seine , the Thames, the Meuse , the Scheldt and the Rhine joined and flowed west along the English Channel as a wide slow river before eventually reaching the Atlantic Ocean . In about 10,000 BCE the north-facing coastal area of Doggerland had a coastline of lagoons , saltmarshes , mudflats and beaches as well as inland streams, rivers, marshes and lakes. It may have been
975-871: The Isle of Man , the United Kingdom and Ireland are included in Western Europe , while Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania are included in Eastern Europe . The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions is a biogeographical system developed by the international Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) organization, formerly the International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases. The WGSRPD standards, like other standards for data fields in botanical databases, were developed to promote "the wider and more effective dissemination of information about
1040-489: The Isle of Man , the United Kingdom and Ireland are included in Western Europe . In the CIA World Factbook , the description of each country includes information about "Location" under the heading "Geography", where the country is classified into a region. The following countries are included in their classification "northern Europe": as well as the dependent areas: In this classification Jersey , Guernsey ,
1105-569: The Kerguelen Islands . Most of Antarctica is too cold and dry to support vegetation, and most of the continent is covered by ice fields or cold deserts. However, some portions of the continent, particularly the Antarctic Peninsula , have areas of rocky soil that support plant life. The flora presently consists of around 300–400 species of lichens, 100 mosses, 25 liverworts , and around 700 terrestrial and aquatic algae species, which live on
1170-726: The MIS 8 or MIS6 glaciations, around 340,000 or 240,000 years ago. Kim Cohen and Marc Hijma date the final destruction of the Weald–Artois Anticline to the severe Saalian Glaciation , which reached its peak around 160,000 years ago, and ended with a second meltwater lake around 130,000 years ago. During the most recent glaciation of the Last Glacial Maximum , the North Sea and much of the British Isles were covered with glacial ice, and
1235-481: The Mesolithic period during the early Holocene. As of 2020, international teams are continuing a two-year investigation into the submerged landscape of Doggerland using new and traditional archaeo-geophysical techniques, computer simulation , and molecular biology . Evidence gathered allows study of past environments, ecological change, and human transition from hunter-gatherer to farming communities. Until
1300-703: The Nordic countries , often the British Isles and Baltic states , and sometimes Greenland . The United Nations geoscheme is a system devised by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) which divides the countries of the world into regional and subregional groups, based on the M49 coding classification . The partition is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories. In
1365-468: The mosquito , and even polar bears near the ocean. Tundra is largely devoid of poikilotherms such as frogs or lizards. Due to the harsh climate of Arctic tundra, regions of this kind have seen little human activity, even though they are sometimes rich in natural resources such as petroleum , natural gas , and uranium . In recent times this has begun to change in Alaska , Russia, and some other parts of
SECTION 20
#17328586413081430-472: The permafrost , making the tundra soil a carbon sink . As global warming heats the ecosystem and causes soil thawing, the permafrost carbon cycle accelerates and releases much of these soil-contained greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, creating a feedback cycle that changes climate. The term is a Russian word adapted from the Sámi languages . Arctic tundra occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere , north of
1495-472: The taiga belt. The word "tundra" usually refers only to the areas where the subsoil is permafrost , or permanently frozen soil. (It may also refer to the treeless plain in general so that northern Sápmi would be included.) Permafrost tundra includes vast areas of northern Russia and Canada. The polar tundra is home to several peoples who are mostly nomadic reindeer herders, such as the Nganasan and Nenets in
1560-457: The 1990s by Bryony Coles , who named the area "Doggerland" "after the great banks in the southern North Sea" – and produced speculative maps of the area. Although she recognised that the current relief of the southern North Sea seabed is not a sound guide to the topography of Doggerland, this topography has more recently begun to be reconstructed more authoritatively using seismic survey data obtained from oil exploration. Between 2003 and 2007,
1625-674: The British Isles including the Brythonic Welsh and the Goidelic Scots Gaelic and Irish . The Celtic languages Cornish and Manx have been revived since becoming classed as extinct, being now spoken to a limited extent in Cornwall and the Isle of Man respectively. The Norman languages of Jèrriais and Guernésiais are spoken in Jersey and Guernsey, though are listed as endangered due to
1690-532: The European Union comprises most of the northern European states, plus the Netherlands. Tundra In physical geography , tundra ( / ˈ t ʌ n d r ə , ˈ t ʊ n -/ ) is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra , and Antarctic tundra. Tundra vegetation
1755-534: The UN geoscheme, the following countries are classified as being in northern Europe: as well as the dependent areas: EuroVoc is a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union , giving definitions of terms for official use. In the definition of "northern Europe", the following countries are included: as well as the dependent area: In this classification Jersey , Guernsey ,
1820-692: The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, however, the West Germanic language Scots is also spoken as a minority language in parts of Scotland and Ireland. Beyond this, the Finnic languages of Finnish and Estonian are the most common first languages of Finland and Estonia respectively. The Baltic languages of Lithuanian and Latvian are the most common first languages of Lithuania and Latvia respectively. A number of Celtic languages are spoken in
1885-469: The archaeological potential of the area. In 1931, the trawler Colinda hauled up a lump of peat whilst fishing near the Ower Bank, 40 km (25 mi) east of Norfolk . The peat was found to contain a barbed antler point, possibly used as a harpoon or fish spear, 220 mm (8.5 in) long, which dated from between 10,000 and 4,000 BCE when the area was tundra. Interest was reinvigorated in
1950-542: The area also suggest survival of land after the Storegga tsunami. The existence of what is now known as Doggerland was established in the late 19th century. The remains of plants brought to the surface from Dogger Bank were studied in 1913 by Clement Reid , and the remains of animals and worked flints from the Neolithic period had also been found. In his book The Antiquity of Man of 1915, anatomist Sir Arthur Keith discussed
2015-470: The area was first identified in the early 20th century, and interest intensified in 1931 when a fishing trawler operating east of the Wash dragged up a barbed antler point that was subsequently dated to a time when the area was tundra . Vessels have since dragged up remains of mammoths , lions and other animals, and a few prehistoric tools and weapons. Most archaeological evidence of human habitation dates to
Doggerland - Misplaced Pages Continue
2080-583: The areas of exposed rock and soil around the shore of the continent. Antarctica's two flowering plant species, the Antarctic hair grass ( Deschampsia antarctica ) and Antarctic pearlwort ( Colobanthus quitensis ), are found on the northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula. In contrast with the Arctic tundra, the Antarctic tundra lacks a large mammal fauna, mostly due to its physical isolation from
2145-483: The climate system activated around 2 °C (3.6 °F) of global warming suggested that at this threshold, permafrost thaw would add a further 0.09 °C (0.16 °F) to global temperatures by 2100, with a range of 0.04–0.16 °C (0.07–0.29 °F) Antarctic tundra occurs on Antarctica and on several Antarctic and subantarctic islands, including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and
2210-607: The coast of Norway known as the Storegga Slide . This suggests "that the Storegga Slide tsunami would have had a catastrophic impact on the contemporary coastal Mesolithic population ... Britain finally became separated from the continent and in cultural terms, the Mesolithic there goes its own way." It is estimated that up to a quarter of the Mesolithic population of Britain lost their lives. A study published in 2014 suggested that
2275-463: The coast of Zeeland , and exhibited in Leiden in 2009. In March 2010, it was reported that recognition of the potential archaeological importance of the area could affect the future development of offshore wind farms . In 2019, a flint flake partially covered in birch bark tar dredged up off the coast of the Netherlands provided valuable insight into Neanderthal technology and cognitive evolution. In 2012
2340-556: The end of the last glacial period of the current ice age , sea levels rose and the land began to tilt in an isostatic adjustment as the huge weight of ice lessened. Doggerland eventually became submerged, cutting off what was previously the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BCE. The Dogger Bank, an upland area of Doggerland, remained an island until at least 5000 BCE. Key stages are now believed to have included
2405-618: The glacial retreat at the end of the Last Glacial Period , the exposed land area of Doggerland stretched across the region between what is now the east coast of Great Britain, the Netherlands , the western coast of Germany , and the Danish peninsula of Jutland . Between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, Doggerland was inundated by rising sea levels, disintegrating initially into a series of low-lying islands before submerging completely. The impact of
2470-402: The gradual evolution of a large tidal bay between eastern England and Dogger Bank by 9000 BCE and a rapid sea level rise thereafter, leading to Dogger Bank becoming an island and Britain becoming physically disconnected from the continent. A recent hypothesis suggests that around 6200 BCE much of the remaining coastal land was flooded by a tsunami caused by a submarine landslide off
2535-466: The highest standards of living in the world. They often score highly on surveys measuring quality of life, such as the Human Development Index . Aside from the United Kingdom, they generally have a small population relative to their size, most of whom live in cities. The quality of education in much of Northern Europe is rated highly in international rankings, with Estonia and Finland topping
2600-475: The history and archaeology of Doggerland. Names have been given to some of its features: "The Spines" to a system of dunes above the broad "Shotton River", the upland area of the "Dogger Bank", a basin between two huge sandbanks called "The Outer Silver Pit". A skull fragment of a Neanderthal , dated at over 40,000 years old, was recovered from material dredged from the Middeldiep, some 16 km (10 mi) off
2665-488: The increased amounts of warmer rain are another factor which increases permafrost thaw depths. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report estimates that carbon dioxide and methane released from permafrost could amount to the equivalent of 14–175 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per 1 °C (1.8 °F) of warming. For comparison, by 2019, annual anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide alone stood around 40 billion tonnes. A 2018 perspectives article discussing tipping points in
Doggerland - Misplaced Pages Continue
2730-605: The increasing prominence of English in the islands. While not the most common first languages in any country, Sámi languages such as North Sámi , Lule Sámi and South Sámi are spoken in the transnational region of Sápmi and are listed as endangered. During the Early Middle Ages , the Roman Catholic Church expanded into northern Europe and spread Christianity among the Germanic peoples . Christianity reached
2795-440: The last few years that we have been able to re-create what this lost land looked like ... We have now been able to model its flora and fauna, build up a picture of the ancient people that lived there and begin to understand some of the dramatic events that subsequently changed the land, including the sea rising and a devastating tsunami. Since 2015, the University of Bradford 's Europe's Lost Frontiers project has continued mapping
2860-565: The list among the OECD countries in Europe. Germanic languages are widely spoken in northern Europe with North Germanic languages being the most common first language in the Faroe Islands ( Faroese ), Iceland ( Icelandic ), Denmark ( Danish ), Norway ( Norwegian ) and Sweden ( Swedish ). The West Germanic language English is the most common first language in Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man,
2925-697: The middle Pleistocene , Great Britain was a peninsula of Europe, connected by the massive chalk Weald–Artois Anticline across the Strait of Dover . During the Anglian glaciation , about 450,000 years ago, an ice sheet filled much of the North Sea , with a large proglacial lake in the southern part fed by the Rhine , the Scheldt and the Thames . The catastrophic overflow of this lake carved
2990-604: The mountainous western seaboard, Scotland and Scandinavia , and also often includes part of the large plain east of the Baltic Sea . The entire region's climate is at least mildly affected by the Gulf Stream . From the west climates vary from maritime and maritime subarctic climates. In the north and central climates are generally subarctic or Arctic and to the east climates are mostly subarctic and temperate / continental . Just as both climate and relief are variable across
3055-639: The only remaining parts of Doggerland at the time of the Storegga Slide were low-lying islands, but supported the view that the area had been abandoned at about the same time as the tsunamis. Another view speculates that the Storegga tsunami devastated Doggerland, but then ebbed back into the sea, and that later Lake Agassiz (in North America) burst, releasing so much fresh water that sea levels rose over about two years to flood much of Doggerland and make Great Britain an island. The difference in distribution of broken shells between lower-lying and high-lying parts of
3120-478: The only subantarctic orchids; the royal penguin ; and the Antipodean albatross . There is some ambiguity on whether Magellanic moorland , on the west coast of Patagonia , should be considered tundra or not. Phytogeographer Edmundo Pisano called it tundra ( Spanish : tundra Magallánica ) since he considered the low temperatures key to restrict plant growth. More recent approaches have since recognized it as
3185-607: The other continents. Sea mammals and sea birds, including seals and penguins, inhabit areas near the shore, and some small mammals, like rabbits and cats, have been introduced by humans to some of the subantarctic islands. The Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion includes the Bounty Islands , Auckland Islands , Antipodes Islands , the Campbell Island group , and Macquarie Island . Species endemic to this ecoregion include Corybas dienemus and Corybas sulcatus ,
3250-559: The peninsula of Jutland , the Baltic plain that lies to the east, and the many islands that lie offshore from mainland northern Europe and the main European continent. In some cases, Greenland is also included, although it is only politically European, comprising part of the Kingdom of Denmark , and not considered to be geographically in Europe. The area is partly mountainous, including the northern volcanic islands of Iceland and Jan Mayen , and
3315-433: The peoples of Scandinavia and the Baltic region in later centuries. The Latin alphabet along with the influence of Western Christianity spread northward from Rome , leading to written English , German , Dutch , Danish , Norwegian , Swedish , Icelandic , Latvian , Lithuanian , Estonian , Finnish and Sámi languages . The Sámi were the last peoples to be converted in the 18th century. The Hansa group in
SECTION 50
#17328586413083380-614: The permafrost area (and the Sami in Sápmi ). Arctic tundra contains areas of stark landscape and is frozen for much of the year. The soil there is frozen from 25 to 90 cm (10 to 35 in) down, making it impossible for trees to grow there. Instead, bare and sometimes rocky land can only support certain kinds of Arctic vegetation , low-growing plants such as moss, heath ( Ericaceae varieties such as crowberry and black bearberry ), and lichen . There are two main seasons, winter and summer, in
3445-413: The polar tundra areas. During the winter it is very cold, dark, and windy with the average temperature around −28 °C (−18 °F), sometimes dipping as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). However, extreme cold temperatures on the tundra do not drop as low as those experienced in taiga areas further south (for example, Russia's, Canada's, and Alaska's lowest temperatures were recorded in locations south of
3510-522: The potential diversity of climates in the ET category involving precipitation, extreme temperatures, and relative wet and dry seasons, this category is rarely subdivided, although, for example, Wainwright, Alaska can be classified ETw and Provideniya, Russia ETs , with most of the rest of the tundra fitting into the ETf subcategory. Rainfall and snowfall are generally slight due to the low vapor pressure of water in
3575-441: The prehistoric landscapes of Doggerland and has used this data to direct a programme of extensive coring of marine palaeochannels. Sediment from the cores has provided sedimentary DNA as well as conventional environmental data and these will be used in a major computational modelling programme replicating colonisation of the submerged landscape. In 2019, a team of scientists from the University of Bradford and Ghent University found
3640-415: The region, so too is vegetation, with sparse tundra in the north and high mountains, boreal forest on the north-eastern and central regions temperate coniferous forests (formerly of which a majority was in the Scottish Highlands and south west Norway ) and temperate broadleaf forests growing in the south, west and temperate east. There are various definitions of northern Europe which always include
3705-419: The results of study of Doggerland by the universities of Birmingham, St Andrews , Dundee , and Aberdeen , including surveys of artefacts, were displayed at the Royal Society summer exhibition in London. Richard Bates of St Andrews University said: We have speculated for years on the lost land's existence from bones dredged by fishermen all over the North Sea, but it's only since working with oil companies in
3770-431: The richest hunting, fowling and fishing ground in Europe in the Mesolithic period. One large river system found by a 3D seismic survey, undertaken by the Birmingham "North Sea Palaeolandscapes Project", drained the southeastern part of the Dogger Bank hill area into the east end of the Outer Silver Pit lake. It has been named the Shotton River after the Birmingham geologist Frederick William Shotton . As ice melted at
3835-443: The sea level was about 120 m (390 ft) lower. The climate later became warmer, and around 12,000 BCE, Great Britain, as well as much of the North Sea and the English Channel, was an expanse of low-lying tundra . Evidence, including the contours of the present seabed, indicates that after the first main Ice Age the watershed between the North Sea and the English Channel extended east from East Anglia, then southeast to
3900-401: The southern coast of the Baltic Sea , which is about 54°N , or may be based on other geographical factors such as climate and ecology . The climate is mainly Oceanic climate (Cfb), Humid continental climate (Dfb), Subarctic climate (Dfc and Dsc) and Tundra (ET). Northern Europe might be defined roughly to include some or all of the following areas: British Isles , Fennoscandia ,
3965-444: The subject of habitat conservation programs. In Canada and Russia, many of these areas are protected through a national Biodiversity Action Plan . Tundra tends to be windy, with winds often blowing upwards of 50–100 km/h (30–60 mph). However, it is desert-like, with only about 150–250 mm (6–10 in) of precipitation falling per year (the summer is typically the season of maximum precipitation). Although precipitation
SECTION 60
#17328586413084030-412: The tree line). During the summer, temperatures rise somewhat, and the top layer of seasonally-frozen soil melts, leaving the ground very soggy. The tundra is covered in marshes, lakes, bogs, and streams during the warm months. Generally daytime temperatures during the summer rise to about 12 °C (54 °F) but can often drop to 3 °C (37 °F) or even below freezing. Arctic tundras are sometimes
4095-417: The tsunami generated by the Storegga underwater landslide c. 8200 years ago on Doggerland is controversial. The flooded land is known as the Dogger Littoral. Doggerland was named after the Dogger Bank (which in turn was named after 17th-century Dutch fishing boats called doggers ), which formed a highland region that became submerged later than the rest of Doggerland. The archaeological potential of
4160-452: The world's heritage of biological organisms for the benefit of the world at large". The system provides clear definitions and codes for recording plant distributions at four scales or levels, from "botanical continents" down to parts of large countries. The following countries are included in their classification of "northern Europe": as well as the dependent areas: Countries in northern Europe generally have developed economies and some of
4225-516: The world: for example, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug produces 90% of Russia's natural gas. A severe threat to tundra is global warming , which causes permafrost to thaw. The thawing of the permafrost in a given area on human time scales (decades or centuries) could radically change which species can survive there. It also represents a significant risk to infrastructure built on top of permafrost, such as roads and pipelines. In locations where dead vegetation and peat have accumulated, there
#307692