Oxford has been named the heaviest city in the UK - but also one of the quietest.

Scientists say the earth's crust weighs more under the city than anywhere else in the country.

Experts at the University of Leeds and at the University of Technology in Vienna calculated the weight based on the thickness of the earth's crust in a given area.

Prof Greg Houseman, of the University of Leeds, said England weighs in at 13,000,000 billion tonnes, making it 100 billion tonnes per kilometre.

He said: "The heaviest part of the UK is Oxford, where the earth's crust is particularly thick and the ground weighs 140,000 tonnes per kilometre."

Cornwall is the lightest place, according to the research, which shows it weighs 78,000 tonnes per kilometre.

Another survey has shown Oxford to be a quiet city, registering low levels of noise in urban areas, compared with other communities. Oxford scored 70.7 decibels - a level of sound described as equivalent to the average volume of a radio.

The noisiest city was Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which registered 80.4 decibels, and the quietest was the Devon seaside resort of Torquay, reaching 60.2. The report said that because decibels are a logarithmic index, Newcastle is 100 times noisier than Torquay and a serious threat to people's health.

The research was carried out by Prof Deepak Prasher from University College, London, who found Magdalen Street and Beaumont Street to be Oxford's loudest spots, where noise reached 70.7 decibels.

The quad at Oxford University's St John's College - only 100 yards from the busy traffic of St Giles - was officially the quietest area tested, recording just 48.7 decibels.

Prof Prasher said: "It's extremely quiet. Despite being near a road, the only sounds which could be heard were the walking and talking of students."