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Posted on 06/14/2002 7:32:58 AM PDT by aculeus
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Part of International Research Group Refuting Popular Theory
In 1996, marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman published a scientifically popular hypothesis, titled Noah's Flood Hypothesis. The researchers presented evidence of a bursting flood about 7,500 years ago in what is now the Black Sea. This, some say, supports the biblical story of Noah and the flood.
But, such a forceful flood could not have taken place, says Jun Abrajano, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Rensselaer. He is part of an international team of scientists who refute the so-called Noah's Flood Hypothesis.
Abrajano cites evidence of a much more gradual rising of the Black Sea that began to occur 10,000 years ago and continued for 2,000 years.
According to the Noah's Flood Hypothesis, the Black Sea was a freshwater lake separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a narrow strip of land now broken by the Bosporus Strait. Ryan and Pittman argue that the Mediterranean broke through the land and inundated the Black Sea with more than 200 times the force of Niagara Falls. The salty powerful flood swiftly killed the freshwater mollusks in the Black Sea. This, they say, accounts for fossil remains that can be dated back 7,500 years.
Abrajano's team has challenged the theory by studying sediments from the Marmara Sea, which sits next to the Black Sea and opens into the Mediterranean.
The team found a rich mud, called sapropel in the Marmara. The mud provides evidence that there has been sustained interaction between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea for at least 10,000 years.
"For the Noah's Ark Hypothesis to be correct, one has to speculate that there was no flowing of water between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea before the speculated great deluge," says Abrajano. "We have found this to be incorrect."
GSA (Geological Society of America) Today magazine recently published a paper in its May 2002 edition based on Abrajano's research. His research also will be published this year in Marine Geology, an international science journal.
For a map of the area go to http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/maps/tu-map.jpg
The word of God is wrong.
Haha, Who do you believe, Ryan & Pitman or God?
Must one so speculate? Why?
I believe Ryan & Pittman. The people who wrote the bible spoke of this flood but, I have yet to see anything written by God about it. (Besides, the stories are compatable)
The word '40' is a mistranslation and should in fact be 'many,' not 40. (That's why you have so many 40 this and 40 that everywhere, should be 'many.')
Was God just using a literary device? Or was God just uninterested in the Europeans, Chinese, Indians (Subcontinental and American) and the Polar Bears?
I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God.
I don't believe it is just another book written by man.
I guess it is all a matter of faith.
Was God just using a literary device? Or was God just uninterested in the Europeans, Chinese, Indians (Subcontinental and American) and the Polar Bears?
Exactly.
I don't believe Ryan & Pitman are correct. The whole world was flooded and it was sudden (40 days and 40 nights).
It is foolish to try to prove God wrong.
No argument from me.
I'm still scratching my head about Noah having (at least) 2 of every species on board. Even if you were just to count insects, that would be one big boat......
Moses wrote the Noah story. God inspired it.
No argument from me.
However, you believe Ryan & Pitman are correct.
Do you believe the flood was not global and not sudden?
Do you have any references for this. I can find no evidence to support this claim.
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