* Coal futures, German power and EU carbon fall

* UK gas market up on sterling depreciation

By Nina Chestney and Oleg Vukmanovic

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - European coal, carbon and power markets sank early on Friday on worries of financial market meltdown after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

After four months of bitter campaigning, a near 52-48 split was in favour of leaving the 28-member bloc and the vote created the biggest global financial shock since the 2008 economic crisis.

The Brexit outcome sent sterling plunging and hammered equities across the world as turmoil swept through global markets that had been betting on a "Remain" vote on Thursday.

"Welcome to the new reality. I have been trading since 2005 and never have I seen markets being so wrong (yesterday) about a major concept such as this vote," said Przemyslaw Zak, gas trader at AOT Energy Poland.

The British pound collapsed tumbled by 18 U.S. cents, easily the biggest fall in living memory, to hit its lowest since 1985. The euro, in turn, slid 3.2 percent to $1.1012 as investors feared for its the single currency's future.

In energy markets, European coal futures fell 7 percent to an intra-day low of $53.50 a tonne before currency movements supported a slight recovery to $54 by 0639 GMT.

The German year-ahead power price dropped by 4.7 percent to 26.35 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).

In the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS), prices for EU allowances fell by 12 percent to 4.96 euros a tonne, its lowest since March.

Britain is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Europe and its utilities are among the largest buyers of ETS permits.

Carbon traders said Brexit was bearish for the market because of uncertainty about the future of the ETS without Britain.

The British gas market, however, moved higher because of the depreciation of the pound, with the winter 2016 contract gaining 3.4 percent to 43.60 pence per therm.

"The back of the curve is going to see the greatest uncertainty and trading liquidity longer term could suffer, but in the short term there will be more (trading volatility)," one UK-based gas trader said.

"There is a question of what this means for the gas interconnectors with the UK from Europe if importing and exporting gas will now require trade agreements."

(Editing by David Goodman) ((nina.chestney@thomsonreuters.com; +44)(0)(207 542 8071; Reuters Messaging: nina.chestney.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))