Re: Atlantis - post ice-age flooding of the Med. basin?
Joseph Zorzin (redoak@vgernet.net)
Thu, 18 Jul 1996 04:29:47 -0400
p3voices wrote:
> Can anyone bring any real data concerning the flooding of the Med basin
> into this discussion? I would be interested in better understanding its
> effects on local climates, fauna and human inhabitants.
Well, I can see that others have responded to the thread but not to what
you are saying.
I'm not a geologist but I remember reading about the drying out and
reflooding of the Med. basin in a National Geographic article of about 10
years ago.
As I recall the article, the reason for the desication of the Med. basin
wasn't related to the Ice Age sea level changes but due to tectonic
movements. The seabed underneath the Straights is very shallow and
periodically rises as the African plate and the European plate collide.
When it rises, the flow of water into the basin is stoped. The flow is
necessary since the flow of fresh water into the basin isn't enought to
counter evaporation.
According to that Nat. Geo. article, a natural dam arose but eventually
wave action broke it down resulting in the world's greatest waterfall. The
article had a painting of what this may have looked like. But I seem to
remember that the article said the last time this occured was about 5
million years ago so no humans were present to see it- except maybe some
proto humans like Austalipithecus or whatever. But of course they probably
had myths too.
I wasn't familiar with the theories on Ice Age changes in the Med. basin
but would like to read about this, if you can pass me some references,
please do so.
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