Humber Gap

{{Short description|Geological term in England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}

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File:Ordnance Survey Quarter-inch sheet 11 North Midlands and Yorkshire, published 1964.jpg

The Humber Gap is a term for the geographic gap between the roughly north–south running line of hills formed by the Yorkshire Wolds and the Lincolnshire Wolds, formed by the west–east running Humber Estuary.{{citation| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=eBwQzsBTWWAC| title = Holocene land-ocean interaction and environmental change around the North Sea| editor= I. Shennan|editor2 = J.E. Andrews| publisher = Geological Society| year=2000|work = Geological Society Special Publication| number = 166| pages = 97, 146–7, Fig.1; p.146}}

In the geological past the gap has formed part of an ice barrier due to glaciers during the ice age resulting in damming and formation of a 'Humber Lake',{{citation| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jv4uA1lHezEC| title =Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology: A Closer Look|editor = J. Ehlers|editor2= P.L. Gibbard| editor3= P.D. Hughes| publisher = Elsevier| work = Developments in Quaternary Science| number =15|year = 2011 | page = 88}}{{citation| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-6gqvAbdS-MC| title = The geology of England and Wales, 2nd edition| editor= P. J. Brenchley| editor2 = P.F. Rawson|publisher = Geological Society| year =2007| pages= 454}} and also forms a geological division.{{citation|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kssOAAAAQAAJ|title = Eastern and central England| author = Allan Straw| author2= Keith M. Clayton| publisher = Methuen & Co.| year= 1979|pages = 39}}

In modern times the gap has formed a natural choice for transport routes, such as the railways.{{citation|url=http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/054_2005WEB.pdf |title=Centre for Archaeology Report 54/2005 : Geoarchaeology in Northern England I. :The Landscape and Geography of Northern England |author=Maria Raimonda Usai |publisher=English Heritage |year=2005 |issn=1473-9224 |at=2.1 Introduction |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033436/http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/054_2005WEB.pdf |archivedate=2016-03-04 }} The Humber Bridge also crosses the Humber close to the gap.