Debate Erupts Anew: Did Thera's Explosion Doom Minoan Crete?

International Herald Tribune ^ | 10-23-2003 | William J. Broad

[Straight Vermonter]

Ping for home bookmarking.

[Bob J]

Looks like an education wasted.

[Bob J]

Please add me to your list, if I'm not there already! Thanks!

[tet68]

Blew most of the island out. Look at what's left today. Had a chance to vacation there years ago but didn't.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Further, I was always taught that Thera was the origin of the Atlantis myth

OMG same here!

[Utopia]

There is little that Plato wrote that can be taken at face value

What BS.

[Bob J]

Un-un.

[Bob J]

BTW - I thought that would be an appropriate response to your detailed counter argument.

[farmfriend]

As the keeper of blam's ping list, I will gladly add you. If you ever change your mind, just let me know.

[Bob J]

Thanks!

[farmfriend]

come by chat sometime when you get chance. I have been advertising and it is getting results.

[eleni121]

I've spend several holidays on absolutely beautiful Thera as it is called by the locals (not Santorini) and I can attest to the fact that whatever happened was monumental...the crater is huge and the ash from that long ago earthquake still covers many of the beaches there.

Vegetables grown on Thera are delectable - the best tomatoes I have ever tasted. I guess it must be the volcanic soil.

[blam]

In the 1300's Thera was owned by a Jewish guy named Joseph Nazi. No kidding.

[Bob J]

Cool! Thanks!

[Doctor Stochastic]

Worldwide tree rings ...

That would a really big tree, Yggdrasil?

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

(another) BUMP for later read

[Grut]

If the plume did reach at least 30 miles (or higher, who knows?) it could have been seen by the Hebrews

Keep in mind, from the Nile delta (which was probably farther south than it is now), only the part of the plume which was 30 miles high or higher would have been visible above the horizon. It was probably more 'blip' than plume.

Just roughly, and doing the math in my head, a plume sixty miles high would only have stuck up 3 or 4 degrees.

[null and void]

If the prevailing wind was blowing towards Egypt the plume needn't have been so high to be visible.

Had it been the high altitude winds the bulk of the ash wouldn't be carried along, so there wouldn't be as heavy an ash fall, and the plume would be illuminated by the sun well after local sunset, and before local sunrise.

Anyone know the typical jet stream patterns over the Med?

[Little Ray]

The Egyptian made several interesting voyages, not the least of which was to the land of Punt. They brought back apes, ivory, and, most valuable, frankincense trees. I don't know what the routes were, but they were pretty long voyages.

[Publius6961]

The equation is: square root of the altitude in feet times 1.23 equals the distance to the horizon in nautical miles.

???

Would that be (SQRT (a))* 1.23?
Or SQRT(a*1.23)?

For an eye height of 6 feet those return answers of 3.01 nm and 2.72 nm respectively, neither of which looks right.