After the Deluge...
So...what is clear is that the fall from paradise accounts told in many of humanities sacred texts is a legend based on actual historical events in human history. The myths, legends, and folklore are taken directly from our own pre-history of cultural stories that have survived time and the passing of generations. Most of the deluge story themes have to do with humanity living in a post apocalyptic age after nearly being wiped out by some omnipotent deity causing a worldwide flooding event. The central theme is of the world being destroyed to punish man for their sins. That legend is told by every culture and every race on Earth. Where did these legends come from? There has to be some historical fact for a worldwide flooding event that forms the basis for the tale. Humanity still seeks salvation, deliverance, and a return to that ancient memory of "paradise" so ingrained in human thought. Through the many belief systems humans practice to seek and appease the deity and return to Paradise as a reward for good deeds...we express man's ancient memories of the deluge. To escape the punishment of the warm age world we live in now and return to the "paradise" of ice age Earth. The propaganda to obscure this truth is shown in the films and textbooks depicting humans as fur wearing savages living in glacially frozen conditions. Not true...not even close! The truth is we are adapted to live in ice ages and civilization flourishes with the lower sea levels. Much warmer down there at sea level 300=400 feet below the current level of the ocean. We know humans were crafting textiles over 100,000 years ago...we were wearing clothes not furs! With the domestication of the dog humans became the dominant hunter on the planet and culture and technology flourished. Humans soon developed an enhanced consciousness and awareness of their environment. This awareness eventually led to obsessing with the night sky and the movements of objects in the cosmos. So many ancient cultures that we give no credence to were able to track AND measure the movements of the moon, the planets, and the constellations as they moved seasonally through the night sky so accurately it cannot be easily explained. Just based on the fact that there were so many ancient astronomers and human settlements that were arranged precisely according to certain astronomical measurements of objects in the sky...it is clear that ancient man had advanced intelligence and a vast understanding of the workings and movements of the cosmos. They began to erect megaliths and monuments as permanent markers of the transits and movements of objects in the cosmos. Just as soon as humanity reached a level of "God-Head" the human trait for arrogance betrayed them and ultimately led to a cataclysmic fall from grace. It may have been generations of man who arrogantly thought they had it all figured out...and then a massive apocalyptic deluge occurred regionally and globally at the end of the last ice age...followed by a dramatic climate change that shook human cultures to their core. It brought into question every thing they ever believed. Massive waves, gigantic floods, rising sea levels, and the horrendous and unimaginable loss of life contributed to the biggest disaster collectively remembered through time and the many races and cultures of man. Societies broke down and the old ways were abandoned. This deluge event had a devastating impact on human thought and beliefs. Living in a world that they long believed they had mastered...they were unable to imagine nor comprehend the magnitude of destruction that humanity suffered. The emotional trauma to the collective human psyche associated with this event long has survived human memory and has effected every aspect of culture and religion in all the races of man. This commonality of experience with the grief that accompanied this tragedy transcends race and culture and unites us all in our strongest human bonds. The grief and horror experienced by the survivors of the deluge are still remembered by us all in myth and legend. In our religion and morality...our common sense of fairness and justice...and the profound need in human consciousness to seek atonement for our sins...all come from the antediluvian civilizations that existed before the deluge...and those who survived after. Why do we know so little about them? Historians have it wrong...civilization didn't start around 7000-8000 BC...it is clearly older and existed pre flood during the Ice Ages for millenniums. We are much more closer to our antediluvian ancestors in our beliefs, speech, knowledge and customs then we are to being 40 hour a week regimented automatons. This life drives humans crazy and robs them of soul...I'd much rather have lived during the time before the flood than in the post apocalyptic world of modern life!
Original Flood Myth?
An Ice Age Mediterranean Scene as it may have appeared.
Human civilization is a direct consequence of the melt down of the Ice Age and flooding of the Mediterranean Basin.
The melt down of the last great Ice Age set in motion evolutionary forces that resulted in the development of human civilization. The Ice Age didn't simply melt down; it collapsed. Compared to the build up phase of the Ice Age, the melt down was sudden and swift. In some parts of the world, it was an ecological disaster. Our ancestors' Stone Age economies crashed. Those who survived were the ones who adopted agriculture and animal husbandry to replace their hunting and gathering economies. That was the beginning of "civilization." The sun shining on warm equatorial oceans lifts water vapor high up into the atmosphere. Air currents carry large amounts of that water vapor to cooler latitudes away from the equator. Some of that moisture remains in the coldest latitudes in the form of ice and frost. During the last great Ice Age, that process lowered sea level of the world oceans to 120 meters below present sea level. That build up process of the Ice Age is well understood. The causes of the melt down of the Ice Age are not so well understood. There are numerous "greenhouse" theories that attempt to explain the melt down. Atmospheric CO2 appears as the main "culprit" in most of those theories. However, no carbon cycle theory is adequately able to explain how a CO2 greenhouse occurred that was capable of melting the polar ice caps and vast regions of permafrost in northern latitudes. The cause of the melt down of the Ice Age is still a matter of conjecture and discussion. Regardless of what caused the Ice Age to melt down, it happened very quickly. In North America, run-off water from the melt down may have gouged out the Grand Canyon in a few short centuries. During the long build up phase of the Ice Age, plants and animals were able to adapt to their slowly changing environment. The swiftness of the melt down caused many species to scramble for their survival. In regard to human evolution, the effects of the melt down were most significant in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. North America is a continent surrounded by oceans. During the Ice Age, there were very few people living on the North American continent. As the Ice Age melted down, sea level rose and the glaciers retreated. As the seas rose, animals and people who occupied the coastal plains retreated inland away from the flood. The seasonal grazing lands of vast herds of bison and other animals were lost. Mammoths and the largest species of American bison went extinct. At about that time, the large Clovis point tools of mammoth hunters disappeared and the smaller Folsom tools of bison hunters became the predominant type. The effect on humans was only minimal. They had to work a little harder to survive. They had to hunt larger numbers of smaller animals. The smaller animals and the smaller species of bison were able to survive the change. The humans were able to maintain their hunting and gathering way of life. A hunting and gathering economy requires a large area to support a small population. Following the melt down of the Ice Age, there was plenty or room left on the continent, and plenty of game, to support the few humans who were living in North America. The Mediterranean Basin is a sea surrounded by continents. It is a flooded valley. Rising sea level in the Mediterranean had more effect on the humans living in that confined valley than it had on people living on the North American continent. The rising Mediterranean flooded millions of acres of coastal plains that were the grazing lands of vast herds of herbivores and home to numerous other species, including humans. Densely forested Western Europe was thinly populated. The winters were severe. Game was seasonal. Travel was difficult. Under those conditions, their hunting and gathering economy was capable of supporting only a few people in a large area. Modern demographers have estimated that the Ice Age population of England and Wales in total amounted to 2500 people living in tiny isolated family groups. The melt down of the Ice Age was probably beneficial to the people of Western Europe. The Mediterranean Valley was a vast fertile plain of grassland and marshes. That fertile valley with its abundant wildlife and benevolent climate supported many tribes of our ancestors who probably lived lifestyles similar to the lifestyles of the Indians of North America. However, the Mediterranean Valley was far more heavily populated than was North America. The rising Mediterranean drove those people out of the valley, up the into river valleys, and out onto the grassy plains of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Those lands were already populated to the full capacity that the hunting and gathering economies there were able to sustain. Numerous wars broke out between indigenous populations and refugees from the flood. Some groups of refugees clashed with others. The melt down of the Ice Age caused mass migrations of people. Those migrations compressed large populations of people with diverse cultures and many languages into a far smaller area than they had formerly occupied. The processes of love and war created whole new cultures in that melting pot. Some groups combined; others were eliminated. As in the American experience, that melding of cultures and combining of energies created new technologies. Agriculture, animal husbandry, and urban living are technological developments that resulted from the flooding of the Mediterranean Basin. It didn't happen in North America. It didn't happen in Asia. It didn't happen in Africa. "Civilization" is a direct consequence of the melt down of the Ice Age flooding the Mediterranean Basin. In the aftermath of the meltdown, a period of war, upheaval, experimentation and innovation occurred. Out of that period of struggle and turmoil, a great enlightened leader arose. That was Assur. Assur and his descendants established the first kingdoms on earth after the Flood
Human civilization is a direct consequence of the melt down of the Ice Age and flooding of the Mediterranean Basin.
The melt down of the last great Ice Age set in motion evolutionary forces that resulted in the development of human civilization. The Ice Age didn't simply melt down; it collapsed. Compared to the build up phase of the Ice Age, the melt down was sudden and swift. In some parts of the world, it was an ecological disaster. Our ancestors' Stone Age economies crashed. Those who survived were the ones who adopted agriculture and animal husbandry to replace their hunting and gathering economies. That was the beginning of "civilization." The sun shining on warm equatorial oceans lifts water vapor high up into the atmosphere. Air currents carry large amounts of that water vapor to cooler latitudes away from the equator. Some of that moisture remains in the coldest latitudes in the form of ice and frost. During the last great Ice Age, that process lowered sea level of the world oceans to 120 meters below present sea level. That build up process of the Ice Age is well understood. The causes of the melt down of the Ice Age are not so well understood. There are numerous "greenhouse" theories that attempt to explain the melt down. Atmospheric CO2 appears as the main "culprit" in most of those theories. However, no carbon cycle theory is adequately able to explain how a CO2 greenhouse occurred that was capable of melting the polar ice caps and vast regions of permafrost in northern latitudes. The cause of the melt down of the Ice Age is still a matter of conjecture and discussion. Regardless of what caused the Ice Age to melt down, it happened very quickly. In North America, run-off water from the melt down may have gouged out the Grand Canyon in a few short centuries. During the long build up phase of the Ice Age, plants and animals were able to adapt to their slowly changing environment. The swiftness of the melt down caused many species to scramble for their survival. In regard to human evolution, the effects of the melt down were most significant in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. North America is a continent surrounded by oceans. During the Ice Age, there were very few people living on the North American continent. As the Ice Age melted down, sea level rose and the glaciers retreated. As the seas rose, animals and people who occupied the coastal plains retreated inland away from the flood. The seasonal grazing lands of vast herds of bison and other animals were lost. Mammoths and the largest species of American bison went extinct. At about that time, the large Clovis point tools of mammoth hunters disappeared and the smaller Folsom tools of bison hunters became the predominant type. The effect on humans was only minimal. They had to work a little harder to survive. They had to hunt larger numbers of smaller animals. The smaller animals and the smaller species of bison were able to survive the change. The humans were able to maintain their hunting and gathering way of life. A hunting and gathering economy requires a large area to support a small population. Following the melt down of the Ice Age, there was plenty or room left on the continent, and plenty of game, to support the few humans who were living in North America. The Mediterranean Basin is a sea surrounded by continents. It is a flooded valley. Rising sea level in the Mediterranean had more effect on the humans living in that confined valley than it had on people living on the North American continent. The rising Mediterranean flooded millions of acres of coastal plains that were the grazing lands of vast herds of herbivores and home to numerous other species, including humans. Densely forested Western Europe was thinly populated. The winters were severe. Game was seasonal. Travel was difficult. Under those conditions, their hunting and gathering economy was capable of supporting only a few people in a large area. Modern demographers have estimated that the Ice Age population of England and Wales in total amounted to 2500 people living in tiny isolated family groups. The melt down of the Ice Age was probably beneficial to the people of Western Europe. The Mediterranean Valley was a vast fertile plain of grassland and marshes. That fertile valley with its abundant wildlife and benevolent climate supported many tribes of our ancestors who probably lived lifestyles similar to the lifestyles of the Indians of North America. However, the Mediterranean Valley was far more heavily populated than was North America. The rising Mediterranean drove those people out of the valley, up the into river valleys, and out onto the grassy plains of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Those lands were already populated to the full capacity that the hunting and gathering economies there were able to sustain. Numerous wars broke out between indigenous populations and refugees from the flood. Some groups of refugees clashed with others. The melt down of the Ice Age caused mass migrations of people. Those migrations compressed large populations of people with diverse cultures and many languages into a far smaller area than they had formerly occupied. The processes of love and war created whole new cultures in that melting pot. Some groups combined; others were eliminated. As in the American experience, that melding of cultures and combining of energies created new technologies. Agriculture, animal husbandry, and urban living are technological developments that resulted from the flooding of the Mediterranean Basin. It didn't happen in North America. It didn't happen in Asia. It didn't happen in Africa. "Civilization" is a direct consequence of the melt down of the Ice Age flooding the Mediterranean Basin. In the aftermath of the meltdown, a period of war, upheaval, experimentation and innovation occurred. Out of that period of struggle and turmoil, a great enlightened leader arose. That was Assur. Assur and his descendants established the first kingdoms on earth after the Flood
Global Sea Level Rise Doomed Man's Golden Age
Ancient Black Sea Flood: Nuisance or Calamity
Emily Sohn, Discovery News
Feb. 19, 2009 --
Something happened along the shores of the Black Sea about 9,500 years ago. According to one theory, a huge flood suddenly drowned the landscape, forcing some of the planet's first farmers to move elsewhere.
A new study paints a different picture.
"I would say there was never a big flood," said Liviu Giosan, a geologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Cape Cod, Mass., and lead author of the study. "What we showed was that it's impossible." The new work fuels an ongoing debate about the geologic history of the Black Sea. Research there has lagged behind other parts of the world, and many questions remain about how water levels have fluctuated over the years. It's a unique place. The Black Sea is an inland sea, surrounded by Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria. It was once a freshwater lake surrounded by rich and fertile plains. But about 9,500 years ago, sea levels rose as the climate warmed, and saltwater poured in from the Mediterranean through the Sea of Marmara. The fossil record clearly shows a shift from freshwater to saltwater species around that time. Whether the change happened gradually or dramatically, however, is something scientists are still debating. The details are murky because for decades, the Soviets carefully controlled who did what in the region, said Giosan, himself a native of Romania. Soviet-funded studies were published over the years, but the papers were short on details about study methods, making their conclusions unreliable. In the mid-1990s, Columbia University geologist William Ryan teamed up with Russian and Turkish researchers to study the geology of the Black Sea for the first time with state-of-the-art methods. Based on seven key observations about the shorelines and fossil record, the team concluded that there had been a massive, catastrophic flood, which they dubbed "Noah's Flood." The theory has been controversial ever since. Giosan and colleagues approached the question in a new way. Instead of looking underwater, like previous studies have done, they drilled a 42-meter (140-foot) hole in the Danube delta -- a flat plain that has formed out of sediments deposited by the Danube River as it pours into the Black Sea. Layer by layer, their core samples went back more than 10,000 years -- allowing the scientists to see what happened both before and after the flood. By dating sediment layers as well as clam shells that were still closed shut (indicating that the animals were buried and preserved in the same place they lived), Giosan's group determined that the Black Sea was 30 meters (98 feet) below present its level at the time of the flood, not 80 meters (262 feet) as Ryan's team maintains. That suggests the flood was much smaller than originally thought. "It moves the balance of evidence from this being a big, catastrophic event to its not being such a big event," said oceanographer Mark Siddall, of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Ryan remains skeptical about the new paper, which he said depended largely on analyses of just two mollusk shells that were completely destroyed by the work, leaving no opportunity for the results to be replicated. Giosan said he has invited Ryan to join him in an effort to replicate and extend the results by drilling more cores in the Danube delta. Now that the area is open for business, scientists hope that gaining a clearer picture of the Black Sea's past will help them get to the bottom of another important question: How much this climate change contributed to the region's history, and what does the future hold in store?
Emily Sohn, Discovery News
Feb. 19, 2009 --
Something happened along the shores of the Black Sea about 9,500 years ago. According to one theory, a huge flood suddenly drowned the landscape, forcing some of the planet's first farmers to move elsewhere.
A new study paints a different picture.
"I would say there was never a big flood," said Liviu Giosan, a geologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Cape Cod, Mass., and lead author of the study. "What we showed was that it's impossible." The new work fuels an ongoing debate about the geologic history of the Black Sea. Research there has lagged behind other parts of the world, and many questions remain about how water levels have fluctuated over the years. It's a unique place. The Black Sea is an inland sea, surrounded by Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria. It was once a freshwater lake surrounded by rich and fertile plains. But about 9,500 years ago, sea levels rose as the climate warmed, and saltwater poured in from the Mediterranean through the Sea of Marmara. The fossil record clearly shows a shift from freshwater to saltwater species around that time. Whether the change happened gradually or dramatically, however, is something scientists are still debating. The details are murky because for decades, the Soviets carefully controlled who did what in the region, said Giosan, himself a native of Romania. Soviet-funded studies were published over the years, but the papers were short on details about study methods, making their conclusions unreliable. In the mid-1990s, Columbia University geologist William Ryan teamed up with Russian and Turkish researchers to study the geology of the Black Sea for the first time with state-of-the-art methods. Based on seven key observations about the shorelines and fossil record, the team concluded that there had been a massive, catastrophic flood, which they dubbed "Noah's Flood." The theory has been controversial ever since. Giosan and colleagues approached the question in a new way. Instead of looking underwater, like previous studies have done, they drilled a 42-meter (140-foot) hole in the Danube delta -- a flat plain that has formed out of sediments deposited by the Danube River as it pours into the Black Sea. Layer by layer, their core samples went back more than 10,000 years -- allowing the scientists to see what happened both before and after the flood. By dating sediment layers as well as clam shells that were still closed shut (indicating that the animals were buried and preserved in the same place they lived), Giosan's group determined that the Black Sea was 30 meters (98 feet) below present its level at the time of the flood, not 80 meters (262 feet) as Ryan's team maintains. That suggests the flood was much smaller than originally thought. "It moves the balance of evidence from this being a big, catastrophic event to its not being such a big event," said oceanographer Mark Siddall, of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Ryan remains skeptical about the new paper, which he said depended largely on analyses of just two mollusk shells that were completely destroyed by the work, leaving no opportunity for the results to be replicated. Giosan said he has invited Ryan to join him in an effort to replicate and extend the results by drilling more cores in the Danube delta. Now that the area is open for business, scientists hope that gaining a clearer picture of the Black Sea's past will help them get to the bottom of another important question: How much this climate change contributed to the region's history, and what does the future hold in store?
Ancient Mega-Floods Altered Global Climate
Mega-flood triggered cooling 13,000 yrs ago-scientists
Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:01pm EDT
* Flood from UK-sized lake plunged Europe into deep freeze
* Scientists say surge of freshwater overwhelmed Gulf Stream
By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia
SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - Scientists say they have found the trigger of a sharp cooling 13,000 years ago that plunged Europe into a mini ice age. Mark Bateman from the University of Sheffield in England said a catastrophic flood unleashed from a giant North American lake dumped large amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean. This led to the shutting down of the Gulf Stream ocean circulation pattern that brings warmth to Europe. "We're talking about a lake the size of the UK emptying very quickly," Bateman told Reuters by telephone. "We don't know the exact period of time but we're talking about a catastrophic flood." The finding has confirmed past theories about the likely cause of a sudden cooling period called the Younger Dryas when temperatures in Europe, similar to today's, quickly returned to ice age conditions. The cooling lasted for about 1,400 years. "Our research shows that if you put a large volume of fresh water into the North Atlantic in a very short space of time, this is what happens," Bateman said. His team's work is published in the latest issue of the journal Nature. The Gulf Stream acts like a conveyer belt by bringing warm water from the tropics to Europe while cold salty water sinks to the depths in the far north. This "overturning" circulation draws in yet more warm water from the south. Climate scientists fear rapid global warming could trigger a sharp increase in the amount of meltwater from Greenland. This surge in freshwater could trigger a tipping point that overwhelms the Gulf Stream, shutting it down and likely plunging Europe into another deep freeze.
PATH FINDER
Bateman and his team confirmed the path of the floodwaters from Lake Agassiz that covered part of what is now Canada and the northern United States. The lake had formed in front of the ice-sheet that once covered a large part of North America. Scientists had previously guessed that a giant flood unleashed from the lake probably caused the Younger Dryas cooling but couldn't confirm the route of the floodwaters. Bateman found that the waters flowed down the Mackenzie River, Canada's longest, rather than the Saint Lawrence Seaway that had previously seemed the most likely route. Studying sediments from cliff sections along the river delta, he said the evidence spanned a large area at many altitudes. This could only be explained by a mega-flood from Lake Agassiz. Dating of the sediments helped the team pin down the date of the flooding, showing that it occurred right at the start of the Younger Dryas. Satellite observations and computer models by scientists have shown that the Greenland icesheet is melting at an accelerating rate, dumping large amounts of ice and meltwater into the North Atlantic. A study published in the journal Science last November said recent summers further accelerated Greenland's mass loss to the equivalent of 273 cubic kilometres of water per year in the period 2006-2008. The also represented 0.75 millimetres of global sea level rise per year. (Editing by Jerry Norton)
Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:01pm EDT
* Flood from UK-sized lake plunged Europe into deep freeze
* Scientists say surge of freshwater overwhelmed Gulf Stream
By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia
SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - Scientists say they have found the trigger of a sharp cooling 13,000 years ago that plunged Europe into a mini ice age. Mark Bateman from the University of Sheffield in England said a catastrophic flood unleashed from a giant North American lake dumped large amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean. This led to the shutting down of the Gulf Stream ocean circulation pattern that brings warmth to Europe. "We're talking about a lake the size of the UK emptying very quickly," Bateman told Reuters by telephone. "We don't know the exact period of time but we're talking about a catastrophic flood." The finding has confirmed past theories about the likely cause of a sudden cooling period called the Younger Dryas when temperatures in Europe, similar to today's, quickly returned to ice age conditions. The cooling lasted for about 1,400 years. "Our research shows that if you put a large volume of fresh water into the North Atlantic in a very short space of time, this is what happens," Bateman said. His team's work is published in the latest issue of the journal Nature. The Gulf Stream acts like a conveyer belt by bringing warm water from the tropics to Europe while cold salty water sinks to the depths in the far north. This "overturning" circulation draws in yet more warm water from the south. Climate scientists fear rapid global warming could trigger a sharp increase in the amount of meltwater from Greenland. This surge in freshwater could trigger a tipping point that overwhelms the Gulf Stream, shutting it down and likely plunging Europe into another deep freeze.
PATH FINDER
Bateman and his team confirmed the path of the floodwaters from Lake Agassiz that covered part of what is now Canada and the northern United States. The lake had formed in front of the ice-sheet that once covered a large part of North America. Scientists had previously guessed that a giant flood unleashed from the lake probably caused the Younger Dryas cooling but couldn't confirm the route of the floodwaters. Bateman found that the waters flowed down the Mackenzie River, Canada's longest, rather than the Saint Lawrence Seaway that had previously seemed the most likely route. Studying sediments from cliff sections along the river delta, he said the evidence spanned a large area at many altitudes. This could only be explained by a mega-flood from Lake Agassiz. Dating of the sediments helped the team pin down the date of the flooding, showing that it occurred right at the start of the Younger Dryas. Satellite observations and computer models by scientists have shown that the Greenland icesheet is melting at an accelerating rate, dumping large amounts of ice and meltwater into the North Atlantic. A study published in the journal Science last November said recent summers further accelerated Greenland's mass loss to the equivalent of 273 cubic kilometres of water per year in the period 2006-2008. The also represented 0.75 millimetres of global sea level rise per year. (Editing by Jerry Norton)
Catastrophic Earth Changes Led to Evolution of Man
Ancient Megaflood Made Britain an Island
Study Says Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News
July 18, 2007
A flood of biblical proportions cut the British Isles off from mainland Europe sometime between 450,000 and 200,000 years ago, according to a new study. The research, based on three-dimensional sonar mapping of the English Channel, provides the strongest evidence yet that a catastrophic megaflood broke a land bridge that once connected what is now Britain and France.
"It is probably one of the largest floods ever identified," said Phillip Gibbard, a geographer at the University of Cambridge who wasn't involved in the study. At its peak, the flood would have discharged water at a rate of about 264 million gallons (a million cubic meters) a second, gushing at speeds of up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) an hour, the researchers say. This is roughly equivalent to ten times the combined flow rate of all the rivers in the world. In addition to making Britain an island, the authors add, the huge flood had wide-ranging environmental consequences.
For example, the gigantic pulse of freshwater entering the Atlantic Ocean likely caused a period of climate cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, Gibbard said. "The introduction of ice and freshwater into an ocean drives climate oscillations and causes marked cooling events," he explained. The flood also marooned many animals and plants, so those species gradually evolved into different forms than their mainland cousins. And humans appear to have avoided the newly made island altogether, leaving it unoccupied for over a hundred thousand years.
Crumbled Chalk
Researchers have long known that a narrow ridge of chalk once connected Dover in southeast England to Calais in northwest France. During the ice ages, when sea levels were low, the ridge held back a glacial lake from inundating a large valley between the two regions
But during warm interglacial periods, sea levels rose and the chalk ridge was the only link. At some point the ridge crumbled. Theories as to why have included river or glacial erosion, tidal scraping, and—most controversial of all—a megaflood.Now Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College London and colleagues say they have found the first concrete evidence to support the megaflood theory. A 3-D map of part of the English Channel reveals features that could only have been created by a massive flood, the team says. "We have identified huge scours on the seafloor and streamlined islands," said Gupta, whose results will appear in tomorrow's issue of the journal Nature.These features are very unusual, he said, and have previously been found only in regions where megafloods are known to have occurred. Similar features exist, for example, in the Channeled Scabland in eastern Washington State, which was deluged when the glacial Lake Missoula burst its banks about 12,000 years ago.
Isolated Island
Based on their analysis, Gupta and colleagues say the most likely source of all this water was a huge glacial lake sitting in what is now the southern North Sea off the east coast of Britain. The water was probably held back by the chalk ridge, and a small earthquake could have caused the first few cracks to appear. "Chalk is not very strong, and eventually the water probably just started to over-spill," Gupta said. Determining exactly when the megaflood took place is difficult.
But the divergence of plant and animal species between Britain and mainland Europe suggest that the event must have occurred sometime between 450,000 and 200,000 years ago. "We now need to drill into the sediments to get an accurate date," Gupta said. The great flood could help explain why Britain remained an uninhabited region for a large chunk of the archaeological record. "There seems to be a large gap in the evidence for human occupation [of Britain] during cold and warm phases from about 180,000 until about 60,000 years ago," said Nicholas Ashton, an archaeologist at the British Museum in London. When the climate was warm, sea level between the island and the mainland was too high for humans to cross, Ashton said. And during the much colder ice ages, humans could have crossed, but seem to have preferred to live in sunnier regions such as modern-day Italy and Spain.
"It wasn't until 60,000 years ago," Ashton said, "that humans—late Neanderthals—had the technological capabilities, such as more effective clothing and shelter, to survive the cold conditions."
Study Says Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News
July 18, 2007
A flood of biblical proportions cut the British Isles off from mainland Europe sometime between 450,000 and 200,000 years ago, according to a new study. The research, based on three-dimensional sonar mapping of the English Channel, provides the strongest evidence yet that a catastrophic megaflood broke a land bridge that once connected what is now Britain and France.
"It is probably one of the largest floods ever identified," said Phillip Gibbard, a geographer at the University of Cambridge who wasn't involved in the study. At its peak, the flood would have discharged water at a rate of about 264 million gallons (a million cubic meters) a second, gushing at speeds of up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) an hour, the researchers say. This is roughly equivalent to ten times the combined flow rate of all the rivers in the world. In addition to making Britain an island, the authors add, the huge flood had wide-ranging environmental consequences.
For example, the gigantic pulse of freshwater entering the Atlantic Ocean likely caused a period of climate cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, Gibbard said. "The introduction of ice and freshwater into an ocean drives climate oscillations and causes marked cooling events," he explained. The flood also marooned many animals and plants, so those species gradually evolved into different forms than their mainland cousins. And humans appear to have avoided the newly made island altogether, leaving it unoccupied for over a hundred thousand years.
Crumbled Chalk
Researchers have long known that a narrow ridge of chalk once connected Dover in southeast England to Calais in northwest France. During the ice ages, when sea levels were low, the ridge held back a glacial lake from inundating a large valley between the two regions
But during warm interglacial periods, sea levels rose and the chalk ridge was the only link. At some point the ridge crumbled. Theories as to why have included river or glacial erosion, tidal scraping, and—most controversial of all—a megaflood.Now Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College London and colleagues say they have found the first concrete evidence to support the megaflood theory. A 3-D map of part of the English Channel reveals features that could only have been created by a massive flood, the team says. "We have identified huge scours on the seafloor and streamlined islands," said Gupta, whose results will appear in tomorrow's issue of the journal Nature.These features are very unusual, he said, and have previously been found only in regions where megafloods are known to have occurred. Similar features exist, for example, in the Channeled Scabland in eastern Washington State, which was deluged when the glacial Lake Missoula burst its banks about 12,000 years ago.
Isolated Island
Based on their analysis, Gupta and colleagues say the most likely source of all this water was a huge glacial lake sitting in what is now the southern North Sea off the east coast of Britain. The water was probably held back by the chalk ridge, and a small earthquake could have caused the first few cracks to appear. "Chalk is not very strong, and eventually the water probably just started to over-spill," Gupta said. Determining exactly when the megaflood took place is difficult.
But the divergence of plant and animal species between Britain and mainland Europe suggest that the event must have occurred sometime between 450,000 and 200,000 years ago. "We now need to drill into the sediments to get an accurate date," Gupta said. The great flood could help explain why Britain remained an uninhabited region for a large chunk of the archaeological record. "There seems to be a large gap in the evidence for human occupation [of Britain] during cold and warm phases from about 180,000 until about 60,000 years ago," said Nicholas Ashton, an archaeologist at the British Museum in London. When the climate was warm, sea level between the island and the mainland was too high for humans to cross, Ashton said. And during the much colder ice ages, humans could have crossed, but seem to have preferred to live in sunnier regions such as modern-day Italy and Spain.
"It wasn't until 60,000 years ago," Ashton said, "that humans—late Neanderthals—had the technological capabilities, such as more effective clothing and shelter, to survive the cold conditions."