The solent - Interesting this
Posted:
Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:31 pmby Ace Ventura
The Solent is a stretch of sea separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England.
The Solent is a major shipping route for passengers, freight and military vessels. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting,[1] hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually. It is sheltered by the Isle of Wight and has a very complex tidal pattern, which has greatly benefited Southampton's success as a port. Portsmouth lies on its shores. Spithead, an area off Gilkicker Point near Gosport, is known as the place where the Royal Navy is traditionally reviewed by the monarch of the day.
The area is of great ecological and landscape importance, particularly because of the coastal and estuarine habitats along the edge of the Solent.[2] Much of its coastline is designated as a Special Area of Conservation.[3] It is bordered by and forms a part of the character of a number of nationally important protected landscapes including the New Forest National Park, and the Isle of Wight AONB.
Posted:
Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:42 pmby Reg
I´ve become quite emotional.
Whats your point?
Posted:
Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:03 pmby Ace Ventura
Just to explain a wee bit more.....
Originally a river valley, the Solent has gradually widened and deepened for many thousands of years. The Isle of Wight was formerly contiguous with the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset - the Needles are the last remnant of this connection. As such the River Frome was the source of the River Solent, with three other rivers - the Rivers Avon (Hants), the Itchen and Test being tributaries of it.
Remains of human habitation have been found from the prehistoric, Roman and Saxon eras, showing that humans retreated towards progressively higher ground over these periods. However, there is a new theory that the Solent was originally a lagoon. This theory was reported in the Southern Daily Echo by Garry Momber from the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology.[4].
The Purbeck Ball Clay contains kaolinite and mica, showing that in the Lutetian stage of the Eocene water from a granite area, probably Dartmoor, flowed into the River Solent.
There is an early Norman period report that much land on the south of Hayling Island was lost to sea flood. South of Hayling Island in the Solent is a deposit of stones, which scuba divers found to be the remains of a stone building, probably a church. There is an old report that this church was formerly in the middle of Hayling Island. If similar amounts of land have been lost on other parts of the Solent shore, the Solent was likely much narrower in Roman times, and it is possible to believe Julius Caesar's report in De Bello Gallico that in his time men could wade to the Isle of Wight at low tide. Similarly, it is known that Selsey was once a port town, with an Abbey and Cathedra recorded until 1075, when the see of the Diocese of Sussex was moved inland to Chichester.
The southeast of England, like the Netherlands, has been steadily slowly sinking through historic time due to forebulge sinking.
During the late Middle Ages, Henry VIII of England built an extensive set of coastal defences at each end of the Solent, part of his Device Forts, effectively controlling access to east and west. More forts were built on land and at sea in the 19th century. These were generally known as Palmerston Forts
A map of the Solent and surrounding areas from 1945In 1982 Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose was lifted off the sea bed of the Solent, 437 years after it sank.
A bank in the centre of the Solent, Bramble Bank, is exposed at low water springs. This, combined with the unique tidal patterns in the area, makes navigation challenging. There is an annual cricket match on Bramble Bank during the lowest tide of the year, although games are often cut short by the rising tide.
Sea bed survey shows that when the sea level was lower in the Ice Age the Solent River continued the line of the eastern Solent (Spithead) to a point roughly due east of the east end of the Isle of Wight and due south of a point about 3 km west of Selsey Bill, and then south-south-west for about 30 km, and then south for about 14 km, and then joined the main river flowing down the dry bed of the English Channel.
In 1912, the RMS Titanic sailed from Southampton to New York as the world's largest ocean liner till she sank in the Atlantic Ocean.
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