geology

But the complex geology of the UK and the higher density of people makes extraction more challenging, according to experts.

The force of the water unleashed by the lake burst could be compared to a tsunami, said Chen Wen Shan, emeritus professor of geology at National Taiwan University.

“The more courses that aren’t offered as often, like my geology courses, the more expensive your degree will be,” she said.

"The work carried out by the geologists in our research programme suggested that the complex geology of the shale basins in the UK would make it significantly more difficult and costly to extract," Bradshaw says.

Mr Allen said he had never dealt with an engineering problem like it, since most landslips and sinkholes were created by naturally occurring geology.