Southern England is slowly sinking while Scotland is rising up, according to a new map created by Durham scientists that shows how land and sea levels around the British coastline are rising or subsiding.
As the ice sheets melted at the end of the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago, the release of their enormous weight resulted in the landmass tilting up in the north and down in the south. The Coastland Map, which has produced the most accurate predictions to date of land uplift and subsidence in the UK, shows that the tilt is continuing.
It projects that land levels could rise by up to 10cm in some parts of Scotland over the next century, a rate that could offset the effects of sea level rise caused by climate change. In contrast, parts of England, Wales and Southern Ireland could sink by up to 5cm over the next century, adding between 10 and 33 per cent to projected sea level rises.
Scientists at Durham University examined samples of peat, sand and clay sediments from 80 sites around the British and Irish coasts to see how the land has changed over time. They used the data with computer simulations that predict how the Earth's crust will change.
Professor Ian Shennan, who led the research, said, 'The action of the Ice Age on our landmass has been like squeezing a sponge which eventually regains its shape. The Earth's crust has reacted over thousands of years and is continuing to react.'
'Subsidence and rising sea levels will have implications for people and habitats, and will require action to manage resorts, industrial sites, ports, beaches, salt marshes and wetlands, wildlife and bird migrations,' he added.
The map could be used, in conjunction with sea level predictions, to help councils and environmental organisations protect coastal regions. It could also help save money on sea and flood defences by identifying where resources will be needed to deal with the greatest sea level rises.
Areas of falling land and rising sea levels:
Somerset, Cornwall and Devon
Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex
Kent and Essex
Suffolk and Norfolk
The Wash
Humberside and North Lincolnshire
Shetland Islands
South Wales
Southern Ireland
Western Ireland
Areas with little land-level change
North Yorkshire
Cleveland
Mid Wales
Areas of rising land levels:
Tyne and Wear
Northumbrian coast, Berwickshire, East Lothian
The Firth of Forth and the Moray Forth
Fife, Aberdeenshire, Caithness
Minch and the Western Isles
Argyll, Ayrshire and the Solway Firth
Northern Irish coast
Isle of Man
Cumbria, Lancashire and Merseyside
North Wales
