Camarinal Sill, Gibraltar.
Posted on 01/23/2009 8:15:56 PM PST by Coyoteman
Did a catastrophic flood of biblical proportions drown the shores of the Black Sea 9,500 years ago, wiping out early Neolithic settlements around its perimeter? A geologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and two Romanian colleagues report in the January issue of Quaternary Science Reviews that, if the flood occurred at all, it was much smaller than previously proposed by other researchers.
Using sediment cores from the delta of the Danube River, which empties into the Black Sea, the researchers determined sea level was approximately 30 meters below present levels—rather than the 80 meters others hypothesized.
“We don’t see evidence for a catastrophic flood as others have described,” said Liviu Giosan, a geologist in the WHOI Geology and Geophysics Department.
Ten thousand years ago, at the end of the last glacial period, the Black Sea was a lake—cut off from the Sea of Marmara and beyond it the Mediterranean by the Bosphorus sill. Debate in geological and archaeological circles has focused on whether, as glaciers melted and global sea levels began to rise, the Bosphorus sill overflowed gradually or whether a flood broke through the sill, drowning some 70,000 square kilometers and wiping out early Neolithic civilizations in the region. In addition to questions about the rate of the flood, investigators continue to debate the extent of the flood -- a debate centered around what the level of the Black Sea was 9,500 years ago.
Continues...
(Excerpt) Read more at whoi.edu ...
Camarinal Sill, Gibraltar.
Yeah, I figgered as much. BTW, how high would your pucker factor have gone if you were sitting on the beach on that little island in the Med when you begin to hear a faint roar off to the east that steadily grows louder as the ground begins to shake??? Then you spy a wall of water maybe several hundred feet high headed your way...
If I survived...I would begin to create my own Flood Myth!
Black Sea water level fluctuations since the LGM
The Black Sea semi-enclosed basin is one important part of the receiving basin collecting the Fennoscandian and part of the Alps melt waters. Actually, it is receiving the waters from main Eastern Europe rivers such as the Dniper, the Dinestr, the Don, and also the Danube which has recorded the melting of the Alps. For this, the Black Sea is a unique laboratory for paleo climatic studies as its water level fluctuations are directly linked to the climate variability without any hysteresis effect compared to the global ocean. The timing and processes which led to the last connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is still under keen debate. During the 3 year ASSEMBLAGE European Project (EVK3-CT-2002-00090 from 2003 to 2006) a seismic transect was shot from the Danube Delta down to the Deep Sea fan. Moreover, four long piston cores (longer than 30 m) were recovered on specific targets. The seismic transect was analysed in term of sequence stratigraphy and a succession of depositional sequences and eroded phases were evidenced and the stacking pattern was made down to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The results obtained from the four core analyses allowed to complete and date the stratigraphic sequences evolution, from the Danube Delta down to the continental shelf edge.From this transect analysis it comes that since the LGM, the Black Sea evolution was induced by several important paleo environmental changes underlined by a succession of water level system tracts: (1) a lowstand system tract at -160 m with a first erosion surface on the shelf associated with a pro Delta extension formed during the LGM; (2) then a high-stand system tract at -40 m can be associated with the Bölling-Alleröd Black Sea high-stand; (3) a second low-stand system tract between -80 m and – 120 m associated to a second erosion surface on the shelf formed since the Younger Dryas and marqued by a second pro Delta. (4) the preservation of coastal barriers and paleo-river channels cutting across the continental shelf can be related to a rapid transgression. This results obtained at the Danube mouth North of the Viteaz canyon confirm previous results obtained from paleo coastal areas studied at the Southern part of the Viteaz Canyon where a wave cut terrace dated between Younger Dryas and Pre-Boreal was described.
Watch your (geological) language!
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/Bosphorus/
Can’t cut and paste this - but I agree with the earthquake scenario...
Given the area, entirely possible. It was there that Jerry Lee Lewis got the inspiration for the old classis, 'Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On'. You believe that dontcha??? Must be getting late...
I’m a bit skeptical that the Black Sea event was the origin of the flood stories. I’m more inclined to think it was the rise in ocean levels after the last glacial max which would have flooded the early coastal settlements, at a time when most people seemed to have been hugging the coasts.
I agree.
http://web.archive.org/web/20130709175142/http://www.oceanlab.abdn.ac.uk/esonet/black.php
one thread leads to another - here’s a link to the archive article on the Black Sea.
~~~
Sea floor features in Black Sea. Bacterial mats, encrustaceans and gas bubbles streaming upwards from vents. Images courtesy GHOSTDABS - Hamburg University.
:’)
fits together like a jigsaw
Ballard Finds Traces of Ancient Habitation Beneath Black Sea
IN SEARCH OF NOAH’S FLOOD
Last year, Ballard and his colleagues found proof that a catastrophic flood inundated the Black Sea in the region north of Turkey. The place and date of the flood—which may have occurred around 5,500 B.C.—correspond to the time and location of the Old Testament account of Noah.
Following a theory proposed by marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman, Ballard searched for evidence that the Black Sea, originally a freshwater lake, filled rapidly with salt water spilling from the Mediterranean Sea about 7,500 years ago through what is now the Bosporus. The flood, apparently the result of thousands of years of meltwater collecting in the Mediterranean following the end of the last ice age (about 12,000 years ago) would have spread over an area of land the size of Costa Rica. The flood may have buried coastal settlements as it engulfed the ancient landscape.
During the 1999 expedition, Ballard’s team discovered a submerged ancient shoreline with a flat beach area beneath about 550 feet(168 meters) of water—evidence supporting Ryan and Pittman’s theory.
Radiocarbon dating and paleontological evidence from a sample of shells and sediment collected from the site suggested that a massive flood occured about 7,500 years ago. However, carbon dating using marine life is notoriously vague. Dates can be off by several hundred years. Dating a sample of wood from the site would provide a much-needed confirmation for Pitman and Ryan’s proposed flood date.
Among the sediment samples was a piece of obsidian, which was used by people in the ancient Near East to shape blades and arrows. Hoping that the obsidian suggested the presence of humans, Ballard returned this year to search for signs of human occupation.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2000/12/122800blacksea.html
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