Submerged forest is a term used to describe the remains of trees (especially tree stumps) which have been submerged by marine transgression, i.e. sea level rise and petrified

Petrified wood

Petrified wood is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization...

. Examples can be found at low tide on the fringes of the submerged landmass known as Doggerland

Doggerland

Doggerland is a name given by archaeologists and geologists to a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age, surviving until about 6,500 or 6,200 BCE, though gradually being swallowed by rising sea levels...

, around the coast of England and Wales, the Channel Islands

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...

, north-west France and Denmark. These remains have usually been buried in mud, peat or sand for several thousand years before being uncovered by sea level change and erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

. In some places, such as Blackpool Sands, Dartmouth

Blackpool Sands, Dartmouth

Blackpool Sands is a beach in Dartmouth, Devon, England named after the nearby village of Blackpool. It has been increasingly encroached on each year since 1933 - indeed, in 1989 the sea broke the defences, severely damaging seaside properties and threatening the A379 road.-External...

, the remains are normally covered by sand and only rarely exposed.

A forest that is still submerged has been found in Nantucket Sound

Nantucket Sound

Nantucket Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on the west. Between Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard it is connected to the...

, off the coast of the U.S.A.

Further reading

• An early work on this subject was: "Submerged Forests", by Clement Reid F.R.S., published by Cambridge University Press in 1913.
• See also, for example, "Submarine Archaeology of the North Sea", published by English Heritage in 2004, ISBN 1-902771-46-X