Dogger Bank

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Location of the Dogger Bank

Dogger Bank (from dogge, an old Dutch word for fishing boat) is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about 100 km (62 mi) off the east coast of England. It extends over approximately 17,600 km² (6,800 sq mi), with its maximum dimensions being about 260 km (162 mi) from north to south and 95 km (59 mi) from east to west. The water depth ranges from 15–36 metres (49–120 ft), about 20 metres (66 ft) shallower than the surrounding sea.

Geologically, it is a moraine, formed at the southern extent of glaciation during the last ice age. At times during the last ice age it was land, either an island or joined to the mainland. Fishing trawlers working the area have dredged up large amounts of moor peat, mammoth and rhinoceros teeth and occasionally Paleolithic hunting artefacts. The bank is the remains of a large landmass known as Doggerland, which existed during the last glaciation and connected Britain to the European mainland.

The bank has been the site of several naval actions. During the War of American Independence, a Royal Navy squadron fought a Dutch squadron on August 5, 1781 in the Battle of Dogger Bank. During the Russo-Japanese War, Russian naval ships opened fire on British fishing boats in the Dogger Bank incident on October 21, 1904, mistaking them for Japanese torpedo boats. In the First World War, the area saw the second Battle of Dogger Bank, a naval engagement between the Royal Navy and the German High Seas Fleet.

In 1931, the largest earthquake ever recorded in the United Kingdom took place below the bank, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale. Its focus was 23 km beneath the bank, and the quake was felt in countries all around the North Sea, causing damage across eastern England.

The bank is an important fishing area, with cod and herring being caught in large numbers. It gives its name to the Dogger region used in the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast. Several shipwrecks lie on the bank.

Dogger Bank has been identified as an oceanic environment that exhibits high primary productivity throughout the year in the form of phytoplankton. As such, it has been proposed by various groups to make the area a designated Marine Nature Reserve.^[1]

References

See also

• Dogger (boat), a type of fishing boat associated with the Dogger Bank area.
• Fishing in the North Sea

Coordinates: 54°43′28.63″N 2°46′06.80″E / 54.7246194°N 2.768556°E / 54.7246194; 2.768556

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