{{Short description|Fishing ground and submerged valley in the North Sea}} {{Use British English|date=February 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{About|the seabed feature close to England||Outer Silver Pit|and|silver mining}} {{Location mark | type=thumb | image = North Sea map-en.png | width = 220 | label = | caption = (Inner) Silver Pit | x% = 31 | y% = 62 | mark = 175-free-google-maps-pointer.svg | mark_width = 14 }} The '''Silver Pit''' is a long valley in the bed of the North Sea, {{convert|45|km|mi|abbr=on}} east of Spurn Head in England. At some point in time the Silver Pit was part of the valley of the Wash River.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}
Also notable is the Silverpit crater, a suspected impact crater located north east of the Silver Pit and named after it, discovered in 2002. The Outer Silver Pit also lies to the north east.
==Origin of the Silver Pit== In origin, it is probably a tunnel valley (Benn & Evans fig.9.27) which was kept free of periglacial deposits by the Wash River when the sea level was lower, towards the end of the Devensian glaciation. However, the Silver Pit may date partially or largely from the Wolstonian Stage.
The Silver Pit (or Silver Pits) was discovered in the 19th century by trawler fishermen from the South Coast of England. They found the small valley to be rich in flatfish, especially soles in winter.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Uglow |first1=R F |editor1-last=Lewis |editor1-first=David |title=The Yorkshire coast |date=1991 |publisher=Normandy Pr |location=Beverley |isbn=0-9507665-3-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/yorkshirecoast0000unse/page/180 180] |chapter=13: Yorkshire Fisheries |url=https://archive.org/details/yorkshirecoast0000unse/page/180 }}</ref>
==See also== * Dogger Bank for map and links to similar places * Doggerland * Outer Silver Pit * Inner and Outer Dowsing sand banks * Timeline of glaciation
==References== {{reflist}} *Benn, D.I. & Evans, D.J.A. ''Glaciers and Glaciation'' (1998) {{ISBN|0-340-58431-9}} *Cameron, Crosby, Balson, Jeffery, Lott, Bulat & Harrison. ''The Geology of the Southern North Sea'' (1992) {{ISBN|0-11-884492-X}} *Glennie, K.W. ''Lower Permian - Rotliegend'' in ed. Glennie ''Introduction to the Petroleum Geology of the North Sea''. (1990) {{ISBN|0-632-02711-8}} *Imray, Laurie, Norie & Wilson pub. ''East Coast of England: Orfordness to Blythe'' marine chart (1980)
==External links== *[https://archive.today/20130128065407/http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm?lat=53.535478953336835&lon=0.716014092150515&scale=750000&zoom=50&type=0&icon=0&searchscope=dom&CFID=1719760&CFTOKEN=33728793&scriptfile=http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm&latlontype=DMS Silver Pit chart] The Outer Silver Pit is further to the north-east, at the eastern end of the Skate Hole. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070323090255/http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm?lat=53.586614131908355&lon=1.8124327598239635&scale=1500000&zoom=50&type=0&icon=0&width=498&height=498&searchscope=dom&CFID=1719760&CFTOKEN=33728793&scriptfile=http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm&latlontype=DMS Outer Silver Pit chart] It lies between the Dogger Bank and the Norfolk to Friesland ridge.
{{coord missing|United Kingdom}}
Category:Landforms of the North Sea