Posted on 02/03/2008 4:35:17 PM PST by blam
Mega-tsunami theory disputed
February 03, 2008
SUPPOSED evidence Australia has been subject to prehistoric tsunamis up to 20m in height over the past 10,000 years could just be the result of Aboriginal occupation, a major conference is set to hear tomorrow.
Archaeologists from the Australian National University say the theory about the mega-tsunamis, which has influenced the development of emergency service plans in Western Australia, is not supported by evidence.
In 2003 Australian geological researchers suggested prehistoric tsunamis over the past 10,000 years were much larger than those recorded since European settlement, including findings of surges up to 20m in height affecting a 2500km stretch of the WA coast.
Our field work would suggest that the shell and coral deposits found high on headlands in WA or further inland are evidence of Aboriginal occupation of the area, and not deposits of mega-tsunamis or other major inundations, ANU researcher Dr Tony Barham said.
He and colleagues Dr Sue O'Connor and Dr Stewart Fallon have also found that archaeological deposits in the area have not been disturbed by major inundation for 1000 years, undermining the theory that giant waves had flooded the area once every 400 to 500 years.
The findings will be presented to the Archaeological Science Conference at ANU, which starts tomorrow and concludes Wednesday.
These earlier theories about mega-tsunamis and their frequency have been quite influential in WA for the development of emergency service plans but our research would suggest that they are not supported by the archaeological evidence, Dr Barham said.
This is a great example of why solid archaeological research should be taken into account in the planning processes for future emergencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
GGG Ping.
Don't tell me the aboriginals lied to us to keep us from their 'sacred sites'? That's shocking!
This is a great example of why solid archaeological research should be taken into account in the planning processes for future emergencies.
And what about the geologists, don't they get a bite at the cherry?
Archaeology is a vital discipline for understanding the environmental and climate-change risks we face in Australia, as it shows how the continents' earlier inhabitants dealt with sudden and long-term changes to their environment.
They were nomadic. They moved around a huge landscape. And besides, haven't you just proven there were no long-term changes they had to worry about?
The conference will also hear how early agriculture was sustained in drying landscapes.
How early? There was no agriculture on this continent until settlement just a few hundred years ago. All the 'evidence' you need can be found in government records and newspaper archives.
(I'm a bit cranky today.)
earthweb.ess.washington.edu/.../downloads/report%20drafts/DRAFT%20-%20Impact%20Tsunamis%20-%20Abbott.doc
Not just Australia, but Madagascar is implicated in megatsunamis.
Most papers point to the undersea Burckle crater in the Indian Ocean. The other side of Australia may have been “waved” by the Mahuika crater.
Burckle may have come down as recently as 4500- 6000 years ago, right at the edge of recorded history.
One more reference.
I’ve seen disciplines justify their exalted positions before, but this one is a gem. Definitely must keep for future reference. So a bunch of ideologically-driven academics preempt five hundred years of physical science? Are we now supposed to worship at the shrine of Margaret Mead and beg her intercede with the nature gods? Beautiful stuff, thanks for posting.

Recently a landform called a chevron was noted on a Landsat 7 image of Madagascar. These chevrons may have been formed by a mega-tsunami produced 4,800 years ago by a meteorite or comet impact with the Indian Ocean.
Wow! This is cool, thanks! I’ve been looking for something like this.
Oooh shiny!
A thanks from those of us who have no idea what a meter is.
Shell middens deposited by humans typically contain shells of a very few selected (human food) species. Geophysical (tsunami) deposits generally contain a very wide -- and mixed -- assortment of shells of diverse species.
Any archaeologist worth hiring should be able to tell the difference between a midden and a geophysical deposit.
And no human (certainly no aboriginal) activity of which I am aware can create massive "chevron" landforms.
Methinks some Aussie Archies are thinking more highly of themselves than is warranted...
I'm in agreement with your line of thinking.
Shouldn't be that difficult.
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What?
Why is Oz exempt from whatever hits the rest of the world?
*she asks, demurely*
I think it was near the four corners in Colorado that their is “Black Ridge” or something that has a thick deposit of black obsidian all along the top. Nearest outcrop for the stuff is hundreds of miles away. Seems the indians sat on this ridge making flint arrows and spears while waiting for the buffalo to appear.
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....These landslides are among the largest on Earth, attaining lengths of 125 miles (200 km) and volumes of 1,200 cubic miles (5,000 cubic km). Moore and others (1989) identified two types of landslides: slumps and debris avalanches. Slumps moved on an overall slope >3�, caused little disruption of the structural coherence of the volcano's flanks, and extended back to the volcanic rift zones and down to the base of the volcanic pile. Slumps may move slowly or surge abruptly forward several meters, causing large earthquakes. The 1868 and 1975 earthquakes, the largest of Hawaii's historic earthquakes, resulted from movement of the Hilina slump in south Hawaii.....
http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/evolution/part7.html
thanks, yes I agree there have been ‘wave’ episodes on both the east and west coasts of the Australian Continent, one University study (can’t find the link at the moment) traced lines of huge boulders along the east coast that could only have been deposited by massive water-action.
I’ll get back to you if I find the link.
I found the tone of the posted article a little ridiculous, the thought that emergency services were perhaps standing by with little boats expecting a 500 year event, kinda ticked me off, LOL!
Thanks!
Ancient Crash, Epic Wave
NY Times | November 14, 2006 | SANDRA BLAKESLEE
Posted on 11/14/2006 7:07:33 AM EST by Pharmboy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1738251/posts
Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami?
NYT | Nov 14 2006 | SANDRA BLAKESLEE
Posted on 11/15/2006 11:00:40 PM EST by djf
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1739396/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836898/posts?page=53#53
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1902154/posts?page=6#6
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1908525/posts?page=48#48
Did A Comet Cause The Great Flood?
Discover Magazine | 11-15-2007 | Scott Carney
Posted on 11/21/2007 5:17:23 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1929074/posts
also:
Studies Prove People Of Madagascar Came From Borneo And Africa
Mongabay | 7-10-2005 | MongaBay
Posted on 07/10/2005 11:31:26 AM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1440141/posts
An Ancient Link To Africa Lives On In Bay Of Bengal
The New York Times | 12-10-2002 | Nicholas Wade
Posted on 12/10/2002 4:09:21 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/804257/posts

Imbricated boulders stacked against a thirty-metre high cliff face on the south side of Gum Getters Inlet, New South Wales, Australia. Some of these boulders are the size of a boxcar. Note the person circled for scale.
(East Coast)
Not sure it has. Sure, the Aborigines have been there for 10s of the 1000s of years, but these tsunamis brought about the extinction of the Aborigelbows and Aborigshoulders and some others.
LOL! I had to read that twice before I got it!
*Whispers*
(I will keep my Ab originalideas for a more appropriate time and place.)
[And you’re up so late because....?]
In the middle of Australia there is a group of three or four meteorite craters called the Henley craters. They're like the Arizona meteorite crater -- not so big, but there are several of them -- and, like in Arizona, the land was scattered with pieces of iron meteorite. I think the [inaudible] dating very slow growing desert plants. They believe that the date is about 5000 years ago -- the formation of the craters. The Aboriginal name for this area is the "Place Where The Sun Walked on the Earth" -- they must have seen it!
I usually go to bed even later than this, but you’ve talked me into knocking off early. :’) Besides, that last “joke” I just made up there, well, it wasn’t too good. Even by my low standards. Yours was excellent by the way. :’)
Great! Now I can play with my worst nightmare. I live beside the ocean (on the east coast) and cross my fingers every day that we are elevated sufficiently to be observers rather than victims...
Well, y’know...?
Life after Superbowl is rather dull, unless your team won.
Some days, my puns are worth the effort. Other days, I’d prefer they could be attributed to someone else.
Today, I just wish I had an audience worth looking at though the footlights....;o]
Well, that was an unusually good Super Bowl. I really didn’t have a dog in the fight, as it were, which has literally always been the case (other than rooting against Green Bay of course, when applicable, and rooting for the Bears during their glory season in the 1980s) because the Lions have only made it to the NFC championship game once, or for that matter, they’ve only won ONE playoff game in my lifetime.
[’Civ pays homage to Noel Coward for a few minutes, then sets down the glass]
Anyway, the game was excellent. I more or less expected the Patriots to break it loose at some point, especially in the second half. I don’t like Brady, but obviously he’s one of the very best QBs ever. I like Eli, the slightly bumbling younger Manning. OTOH, I don’t much like the Dolphins, and really hate the 1972 undefeated Dolphins reruns that get trotted out about week six each year when there is at least one undefeated team. The Patriots won 18 games straight in one season/post season, which is one more than the ‘72 Dolphins managed, so they can take comfort in that. Someday perhaps a team will go undefeated from a to z, and perhaps some team may someday go undefeated for two straight seasons.
Oh, but anyway, lest I forget...
BRAVO, well done, and congratulations to the New York Giants and all their fans.
“Fifth seed” my ass.
I still say the Pats were “puffed up” with their 18 straight wins.
I was hoping (secretly) for a better showing (like: I’M FIGHTING FOR MY TITLE!) but the coaches seemed to think it was a done deal. (No bettah fo’ THEY *$$e$!)
I don’t mind the old “Glory Days” of re-runs, but I think they would have been more useful had they been played for the teams. But that’s just me, so don’t put money on it!
It;s probably easy to be an armchair QB...after the fact. ;o]
:’) I was at a friend’s house, she hates football, but we love pizza; she put on the travel channel (what a spinetingling thrill that channel is, not) and FINALLY switched over to Fox. The game was deep into the second quarter by the time we’d baked the pizza and settled down. She knew about Tom Petty’s being the halftime show, and one of the three songs they did was a good old one, “American Girl” (I saw him live 20+ years ago, and they were fun at that time, but he really croaks instead of sings, and the bulk of his material has a monumental sameness to it). I wish the other two songs had been “No Second Thoughts” and “The Waiting”.
Giants were all over them on defense, and made few mistakes. The Patriots are used to bringing the blitzkrieg on offense, and are not so much used to being on the receiving end. They were rattled a couple of times during the season by teams who were able to do that to them. And in that last drive, Eli put on a show that will stick with me for a long, long time. He should have been cold and on a hook, and wriggled free, then kinda lobbed it, perfectly on the nose, to the suddenly open receiver.
Anyway, easily one of the best SBs. I didn’t really have a favorite in the game, which made it perhaps more enjoyable. But then, as I’ve said, I’m pretty sure the Detroit Lions will continue to disappoint, having not won the NFL championship since before I was born. :’D
The post-game stories are flyin’ already over on ESPN, for example:
Ten things we learned from the Giants’ Super Bowl win
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs07/columns/story?columnist=chadiha_jeff&id=3229351
I enjoyed the game all BY meself! And not by choice.
I’ve always liked Tom Petty, but he seemed tired and unenthused tonight. Perhaps his age is showing. “The Waiting” would have been good....
When a game has been won, I try not to second-guess the teams. Except to say, “YOU STUPID IDIOT!!! WHAT THE &%$@%& were you THINKING????”
I don’t even listen to the post game theories. It reminds me that “If the dog hadn’t stopped....” It’s not going to change the score, so why bother?

Contend that places as diverse as Britain, the Andes, Iraq, and Australia were swept by a tsunami with a height of 5km in 7640BC......
By the way, blam, have you read this book? I'm reading it now....I think you'd like it.
http://www.amazon.com/Uriels-Machine-Uncovering-Stonehenge-Civilization/dp/193141274X
Stevie Nicks helps a little here.
IMO, that would be a good period to be looking for them.
No thanks...it's fiction.
1st ABO: Eh, mate, today we’re gonna carry all these shells and bits o coral rock miles inland and dump them.
2nd ABO: Coor Arch, why are we gonna do that? Seems like an awful lot o work in the sun for nothing.
1st Abo: That’s the beauty of it. Hundreds, maybe thousands of years from now, it’ll drive the bastards that come along behind us crazy.
Yuggo, I don’t like Stevie Nicks. Glad she relented and decided to let TP keep “The Waiting” for his own album, and used “Stop Draggin My Heart Around” instead.
Comet/Asteroid Impacts
and Human Society
ed by Peter T. Bobrowsky
and Hans Rickman
intro (PDF)
due to links here
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