Doggerland: Lost land bridge hit by Storegga tsunami around 8,150 years ago

September 12, 2026United KingdomGeneralShare

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Key facts

• At the last glacial maximum, about 20,000 years ago, global sea level was roughly 120–135 m below present.
• Meltwater pulse 1A, around 14,500 years ago, raised sea level by as much as about 20 m over a few centuries.
• Doggerland was a habitable land bridge between Britain and continental Europe; Beringia connected Asia and North America.
• Around 8,150 years ago, the Storegga submarine landslide off Norway displaced about 200 km³ of sediment and generated a major tsunami.
• Moss Hylocomium splendens fragments retaining chlorophyll, together with their growth patterns, constrained the tsunami's timing and showed that some moss was torn up alive and rapidly buried.
• The tsunami reached Scotland and Shetland, both west of the Storegga source region.
• Near Inverness, a Mesolithic occupation layer with worked flint was found beneath sand attributed to the Storegga tsunami; no structures survived.
• Some researchers have suggested that the tsunami may have ended permanent habitation on Doggerland; this remains a hypothesis rather than an established conclusion.

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