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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Karen McVeigh

Giant icebergs once drifted off the coast of Britain, scientists find

An image of the grooves created using 3D seismic reflection data
Distinctive grooves carved in sediments below the seafloor were left by giant icebergs during the last ice age. Illustration: British Antarctic Survey

Giant, flat-topped icebergs the size of the city of Cambridge drifted off the coast of Britain during the last ice age, according to a study that has uncovered evidence of their existence for the first time.

A series of distinctive, comb-like grooves found preserved in sediment near Aberdeen in Scotland were left behind by the underside of huge “tabular” icebergs that dragged across the North Sea floor between 18,000 and 20,000 years ago, the researchers said.

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