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kurushio95
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I've noticed in most cultures, there is mention of a "great flood." in Native American legend, the Earth was created from a flood, Christianity has the story of Noah...and thoughts on this?
Something "big" ,on global scale,certainly has happened in the past,and many cultures noticed it.kurushio95 said:I've noticed in most cultures, there is mention of a "great flood." in Native American legend, the Earth was created from a flood, Christianity has the story of Noah...and thoughts on this?
Something "big" ,on global scale,certainly has happened in the past,and many cultures noticed it.
verty said:No. They borrow from each other as time goes on.
I have a different way of explaining this.No. They borrow from each other as time goes on.
the something "big" would be glacier melting.Something "big" ,on global scale,certainly has happened in the past,and many cultures noticed it.
arildno said:And why wouldn't any type of disastrous swelling of a brook at the homestead be equally well suited to generate later stories?
Why does it have to be glacial melting behind it all??
nannoh said:It takes slightly more of a catastrophe than a stream breaching its banks, effecting many lives and many families, to start a story that will survive through the ages, in the case of India over 10 millenia..
arildno said:A totally unevidenced assumption. A story survives if people like it to be re-told, if it is a boring story it is soon forgotten.
That is, whether or not a story survives does not depend in any large measure upon what events might have inspired the story in the first place, but upon whether the story is a skillfully wrought tale or not.
So I believe it is a matter of numbers when it comes to the survival of a story. How the story is told is up to the person telling it.
verty said:And the story changes to take account of new knowledge because the teller wants it to sound credible.
verty said:That change doesn't seem too fast. Is calling it a great flood all that accurate?
verty said:Wouldn't it make more sense if there were myths of the 'great creeping waters' or some such?
Andre said:It's tempting to consider the enigmatic Melt Water Pulses as floods, the largest one, MWP1A, 14,600 years ago, is thought to be pertaining 25-30 meters sea level rise within decades. There is a major problem though, there is no credible source for all that water.
More here: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=113807
BOILING SEAS LINKED TO MASS EXTINCTION (AND BIBLICAL FLOOD)
Nature Science Update ^ | 22 August 2003 | TOM CLARKE
A massive methane explosion frothing out of the world's oceans 250 million years ago caused the Earth's worst mass extinction, claims a US geologist.
Similar, smaller-scale events could have happened since, which might explain the Biblical flood, for example, suggests Gregory Ryskin of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois1. And they could happen again: "It's a very conjectural idea but it's too important to ignore," says Ryskin.
Up to 95% of Earth's marine species disapeared at the end of the Permian period. Some 70% of land species, including plants, insects and vertebrates, also perished. "It's arguably the single most important event in biology but there's no consensus as to what happened," says palaeontologist Andrew Knoll of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massacheusetts.
Ryskin contends that methane from bacterial decay or from frozen methane hydrates in deep oceans began to be released. Under the enormous pressure from water above, the gas dissolved in the water at the bottom of the ocean and was trapped there as its concentration grew.
Just one disturbance - a small meteorite impact or even a fast moving mammal - could then have brought the gas-saturated water closer to the surface. Here it would have bubbled out of solution under the reduced pressure. Thereafter the process would have been unstoppable: a huge overturning of the water layers would have released a vast belch of methane.
The oceans could easily have contained enough methane to explode with a force about 10,000 times greater than the world's entire nuclear-weapons stockpile, Ryskin argues. "There would be mortality on a massive scale," he says.
"It's a wacky idea," says geologist Paul Wignall of the University of Leeds, UK, "but not so wild that it shouldn't be taken seriously." There is evidence that the oceans stagnated at the end of the Permian period. And the chemical signature in fossils of the time hints there was a massive change in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide would have been produced as methane broke down or exploded in the atmosphere.
After all, belches of trapped methane from lakes and oceans are "a rare but well-known maritime hazard", Wignall adds.
Flood warning
The same phenomenon could explain more recent events, such as the Biblical flood, Ryskin also argues. An eruption from Europe's stagnant Black Sea would fit the bill. There is even some geological evidence that such an event took place 7,000-8,000 years ago.
Other sluggish seas might still be accumulating methane at their depths and could represent a future hazard, Ryskin adds. "Even if there's only a small probability that I am right, we should start looking for areas of the ocean where this might be happening," he argues.
References 1. Ryskin, G. Methane driven oceanic eruptions and mass extinctions. Geology, 31, 737 - 740, (2003).
(c) Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2003
nannoh said:Yes you've mentioned this before and its baffling for me. Maybe its an hydro-isostatic effect. Rising seabeds or sinking continents.
is this something you've been studying for a while?
Andre said:Could be, data can be explained in more than one way but that should be a thread for Earth science
indeed but not only 250 Million years ago, also 55,2 million years ago, and every 100,000 years for the last 700,000 years.
There is geological evidence of large floods occurring in various regions around the world, including the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf. Additionally, many ancient cultures have stories and legends that describe a great flood, which may provide further evidence for a global event.
The impact of a 'Great Flood' on ancient civilizations can vary depending on the location and culture. Some civilizations may have been completely wiped out, while others may have been able to adapt and continue their way of life. The flood may have also played a role in shaping cultural beliefs and practices.
Despite differences in details, many flood stories from different cultures share common themes, such as a righteous man or family being warned of the impending flood, the construction of a large vessel to survive the flood, and the release of birds or other animals to determine if the floodwaters have receded.
There is ongoing debate among scholars about the origins of the 'Great Flood' stories. Some believe that a real event, such as a large flood, may have inspired these stories, while others argue that the flood stories are purely mythical and have no basis in reality. Further research and evidence may help to shed light on this topic.
Modern science offers various theories to explain the possibility of a 'Great Flood', including natural disasters such as melting glaciers, tsunamis, or large storms. Some scientists also suggest that a catastrophic meteor impact or the collapse of a natural dam could have caused a massive flood. However, the exact cause of any potential 'Great Flood' event is still a topic of ongoing research and debate.