Around 62 million years ago, sea levels were falling and the northern North Sea was being stretched by tectonic forces. It began to split and a chunk of it sank lower, forming the Central Graben. Over time, it filled with sediments which included a large outpouring of sands and clays from the Moray Firth area. This ‘tongue’ of Scottish debris spread out into a fan on the sea floor which now has its own feminine moniker. It appeared fleetingly on a slide at a recent lecture on 3-D seismic surveying.
In the North Sea, a fan has been seen
By a seismic surveying machine –
It’s a sediment tongue
Formed when mammals were young.
And the fan has a name: it’s Maureen!