Figure 6: Map showing onshore and offshore bedrock geology of Dover Strait area. Our new compilation of marine geophysical data shows that the erosion and infilling of plunge pools at the base of ...

Bathymetry map of the Dover Strait showing prominent valley eroded through the the gap (Picture: National). This megaflood gouged out huge valleys along the floor of the English Channel.

The second one may have occurred 160,000 years ago, when catastrophic flooding opened the Dover Strait. When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, water flowed into that gap. Just like that ...

Dr Jenny Collier, of Imperial College London, said: "Based on the evidence that we've seen, we believe the Dover Strait 450,000 years ago would have been a huge rock ridge made of chalk joining ...