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Myths Help Geologists Understand Modern Threats
morleron writes "According to a report in the "Guardian Unlimited" geologists have begun using ancient myths as clues to geologic events in Earth's past. Among other things scientists have followed the tracks of ancient stories to uncover the huge Seattle earthquake and tsunami that obliterated large parts of the coasts of Washington and Oregon roughly 300 years ago; the discovery that a volcano on Fiji is active instead of dormant as has been thought for years; and that the Biblical and Near Eastern myths of a world ending flood are probably based on the sudden inundation of the Black Sea when the landbridge that used to link Turkey with Europe - what is now called the Bosporus - suddenly collapsed some 7600 years ago. It's amazing how much information our ancestors passed on in oral and early written myths...we're finally getting smart enough to listen."
If there really was Pangea millenia ago, then it looks like the same thing happened at the Strait of Gibraltar to first fill the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Agean seas...
It looks a lot like the Bosporus.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
If only someone could convince the religious fundamentalists who run most of the world of this, um, fact...
Down at the south end of the border between British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, is an area known as the Crowsnest Pass. Over on the Alberta side was the small town of Frank. Frank existed solely because the Crowsnest is choc-a-bloc full of coal.
Anyway, not to get into too much detail: the residents of Frank lived at the bottom of a mountain they named "Turtle Mountain," but which had a much older Indian name of "The Mountain That Moves." Throwing all caution to the wind, the mountain was soon being mined for coal.
Needless to say, thirty million cubic meters of mountain moved -- downhill, rapidly -- during the night of April 29, 1903, burying the town under hundreds of feet of rock. It's a great story, though sad.
It is well worth the effort of visiting the site. Fascinating history throughout the area, lots of superb dayhiking, and if you hump it up Turtle mountain (or even partway up) you get the most astounding view of the destruction. When that mountain moved, it moved a long way. There are house-sized boulders halfway up the opposing slope. It was a massive landslide.
Point of the Story: Listen to the myths, people! The natives weren't just making shit up for the helluvit! It was the bleeding Mountain That Moves! D-oh!
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The 'black sea flood' didn't actually happen. Meltwater inputs into the Volga, Deniper and other major rivers in Ukraine were, as far as the evidence shoes, greater than evaporation, leading to an outflow across the Bospohorous; it was not until ca. 7500 years ago that the Med rose to a similar level to the black sea.