Multi-proxy evidence for the impact of the Storegga Slide Tsunami on the early Holocene landscapes of the southern North Sea

Abstract

Doggerland was a land mass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British land mass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Slide, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the Northern North Sea, North East coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase.The spatial extent of the Storegga tsunami however remains unconfirmed because to date no direct evidence for the event has been recovered from the southern North Sea. We present evidence that Storegga associated deposits occur in the southern North Sea. Palaeo-river systems have been identified using seismic survey in the southwestern North Sea and sedimentary cores extracted to track the Mid Holocene inundation. At the head of one palaeo-river system near the Outer Dowsing Deep, the Southern River, we observed an abrupt and catastrophic inundation stratum. Based on lithostratigraphic, macro and microfossils and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) evidence, supported by optical stimulation luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, we conclude these deposits were a result of the Storegga event. Seismic identification of this stratum to adjacent cores indicated diminished traces of the tsunami, largely removed by subsequent erosional processes. Our results demonstrate the catastrophic impact of Storegga within this area of the Southern North Sea, but indicate that these effects were temporary and likely localized and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude clear physical remnants of the wave are likely to be restricted to inland basins and incised river valley systems.

PIA: More Accurate Taxonomic Assignment of Metagenomic Data Demonstrated on sedaDNA From the North Sea

“…PIA and MEGAN were compared in a parallel analysis of seven samples from the Europe's Lost Frontiers project (Gaffney et al, 2020). These samples are from sediment core ELF039 which was taken from a palaeochannel approximately 50 km north of the present Norfolk coast.…”

“…Every DNA molecule extracted from a sample has the potential to be identified, provided that reference databases are adequate. Second, read count and genome size could be used to calculate biogenomic mass: a proxy of biomass (Gaffney et al, 2020). Third, metabarcoding is far less likely to record DNA damage signals.…”

“…This study uses our sedaDNA data from core ELF039, chosen because most samples had a relatively high data yield and the geological context suggested a potentially interesting story. For more information, see Gaffney et al (2020).…”

Evidence of the Storegga Tsunami 8200 BP? An Archaeological Review of Impact After a Large-Scale Marine Event in Mesolithic Northern Europe

“…The Storegga tsunami has previously been theorized as having brought about a swift and catastrophic end to Doggerland, the submerged palaeolandscape of the southern North Sea (Weninger et al, 2008). However, a more nuanced understanding is beginning to emerge in the wake of numerical modelling of the wave's dispersal (Hill et al, 2014;Hill et al, 2017), and the discovery of the first confirmed evidence of the tsunami from a submarine context, "core ELF001A" from the "Southern River" submerged river valley, recovered by the Europe's Lost Frontiers team (Gaffney et al, 2020). Clearly the Storegga tsunami hit some of the coastlines of the southern North Sea with considerable force, but the severity of this impact was probably variable (Walker et al, 2020).…”

A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge

“…Samples were also extracted for an ongoing environmental study at the University of Warwick as the age and environment of these deposits is compatible with the preservation of ancient DNA (Kistler et al 2017). With the improvement of stratigraphic integrity tests developed at Warwick (Gaffney et al 2019) there is an opportunity to test the environmental composition and extent of DNA movement within each of the cores, a particular concern in terrestrial sedimentary systems (Haile et al 2007). The sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) profiles may then be used to distinguish late glacial background features and subsequent sequential cuts into the anomalies and their associated palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.…”