It ’s just as well political bound are not set by ancient geological events or Brexit might be even messier than it currently is . If they were , the European Union could put in a bid to retain the counties of Cornwall and Devon when the rest of the UK farewell . Research on the constitution of Britain has found that , 400 million years ago , these areas were part of the landmass known as Armorica , which became what is now France and Spain . Great Britain is the product of three landmasses colliding , not two as antecedently thought .
Britain and Ireland hold piece of two ancient continents , named Laurentia , which acquit what is now Scotland , and ( rather charmingly ) Avalonia , which England and Wales are organise from . It had been assume the collision of these two continental landmasses create the British Isles , but by studying the geology of these south - western county researchers revealed they actually descend from a third , Armorica .
“ It has always been presume that the border of Avalonia and Armorica was beneath what would seem to be the natural boundary of the English Channel , ” saidDr Arjan Dijkstraof the University of Plymouth in astatement . However , Dijkstra has challenged this inNature Communications .
According to Dijkstra , while the easterly part of the bound between Armorica and Avalonia does indeed run under the Channel , further west it crosses demesne . “ Although there is no physical line on the surface , there is a light geologic boundary which break up Cornwall and south Devon from the residue of the UK , ” Dijkstra said .
Around 285 - 295 million year ago volcanic eruptions institute sparse tubes of magma from deep within the Earth to south - west Britain . The remnant rocks reveal different ratios of strontium and neodymium isotopes on either side of Dijkstra ’s line , with those to the south resembling those on the continent . Since these tube are form from cloth in the blanket , they are a windowpane into where bit of the Earth ’s insolence lie when the volcanism happened .
The determination explain why Cornwall and Devon were once rich source of cannister , tungsten , and copper , with Cornish can mine date back more than 4,000 old age . standardised deposits are witness in France andnorthern Spain , but the rest of England has no such metallic wealthiness .
It is presumably coincidental that these ancient geological boundaries resemble ethnical and historical ones . The full point where Avalonian rocks meet those from Laurentia almost perfectly matches the English / Scottish borderline . Meanwhile , the parts of Armorica now attached to Britain were a Celtic holdout against the Anglo - Saxon invasions . Maybe the EU should put a title on Cornwall after all .
