Beaufort's Dyke is a natural

trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from ero ...

within the

North Channel North Channel may refer to: *North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland) The North Channel (known in Irish and Scottish Gaelic as , in Scots as the ) is the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland. It begins no ...

between

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The dyke is long, wide and deep. The trench is recorded in 1856 as having been discovered "some years ago" by a Captain Beechey.

Geomorphology

Beaufort's Dyke is a submerged

tunnel valley A tunnel valley is a U-shaped valley originally cut under the glacial ice near the margin of continental ice sheets such as that now covering Antarctica and formerly covering portions of all continents during past glacial ages. They can be as l ...

caused by glacial erosion during the last glacial period, and has been prevented from filling with sediment by strong tidal currents.

Dumped munitions

Because of its depth and its proximity to the Cairnryan military port, Beaufort's Dyke became the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's largest offshore dump site for surplus conventional and chemical munitions after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

: it had been used for the purpose since the early 20th century. The Ministry of Defence has estimated that well over a million tons of munitions have been dumped there, including 14,500 tons of artillery rockets filled with phosgene dumped in July 1945. Munitions have since been deposited by the tide on nearby beaches. In 1995, phosphorus bombs washed up on Scottish coasts, coinciding with the laying of the Scotland-Northern Ireland pipeline (SNIP), a gas interconnector constructed by

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Servi ...

. Over the previous five years, anti-tank grenades had washed up on the shores of Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. An explosion was registered as a 2.5 Magnitude

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

on 8 February 1986.

Nuclear waste

According to documents from the

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...

, approximately two tonnes of concrete-encased metal drums filled with radioactive laboratory rubbish and luminous paint were dumped in the dyke during the 1950s.

Crossings

Projects for a tunnel or Irish Sea fixed crossing between Northern Ireland and Scotland have been suggested at various times from the late 19th century onwards. The dyke has always been an important problem for such proposals, in terms of both practicality and cost. In February 2020, the UK government announced an initial investigation into a Scotland–Northern Ireland bridge. Two possible routes were proposed:

Portpatrick Portpatrick is a village and civil parish in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the Rhins of Galloway. The parish is about in length and in breadth, covering . History ...

–

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

and

Kintyre peninsula Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north ...

–Torr Head. The Portpatrick route would cross the dyke. Explosive ordnance advisers Exord cast doubt on the Portpatrick route saying "any intrusive works such as piling associated with the construction of bridges would pose an unacceptable level of risk". The study concluded that Beaufort's Dyke was one of the project's principal challenges, requiring bridge spans "approaching 4km on foundations set back from the edge", even if crossing the Dyke at its narrowest point. The bridge project was costed at £335 bn, and it was rejected by a feasibility study.

References

External links

Fisheries Research Service document
*G FORD, L OTTEMÖLLER, B BAPTIE. 2005.
Analysis of Explosions in the BGS Seismic Database in the Area of Beaufort’s Dyke
1992–2004''. British Geological Survey Commissioned Report, CR/05/064. 15pp. {{coord, 54.785, -5.420, display=title, region:GB_scale:200000 Environmental disasters in the United Kingdom Landforms of the Irish Sea Water pollution in the United Kingdom