In Dover, Britain, a large piece of the famous white rock broke and fell into the English Channel. Passersby recorded the incident.
Dover – A large section of the famous white cliffs near Dover crashed into the English Channel.
A large part of the famous white cliffs near Dover fell into the English Channel. © Gareth Fuller / PA Wire / DPA
As the British media reported on Thursday, Walker captured the natural phenomenon in photographs and videos.
In social networks, users jokingly asserted that the spectacle was a status symbol of the United Kingdom.
“What is the nature of humor, irony and time: Brexit — Britain’s iconic rocks fall into the icy sea,” wrote one Users on Twitter.
The rocks, which are easy to see when coming by ferry, were built about 90 million years ago.
Its white color is due to the structure of the chalk – but it is particularly prone to erosion. Therefore the parts keep falling into the sea.
According to the researchers, the rocks have eroded ten times faster in the last 150 years than in the last 7,000 years.
According to information from the online portal “Kent Live”, this was only the third time in the last 20 years that such a large piece had been broken.
Chalk rocks are also breaking on the Baltic Sea island of Rugen, and frequent major breaks occur. For example, in February 2005, the main battle of Wissover Klinken fell into the sea with about 50,000 cubic meters of chalk, and in 2011 a Brandenburg girl was killed in the demolition.
In addition to the already soft structure of the chalk, erosion is accompanied by the force of waves hitting the rocks, as well as storms and heavy rainfall.
