Controversy over Noah's Flood in the Black Sea: Geological and foraminiferal evidence from the shelf
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2007
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This paper reviews the geological and foraminiferal evidence collected during
the course of extensive paleoceanographic and geological studies in the Black
Sea, conducted largely by Eastern European scientists since 1970. Though this
research has a long history, its most recent focus has been examining the
“Noah’s Flood” Hypothesis proposed by William Ryan and Walter Pitman,
which proposes an abrupt and catastrophic flooding of the Pontic basin in the
early Holocene. Specifically, the hypothesis states that the Black Sea was a
freshwater lake with a surface about 140 m below present sea level between
14.7 and 10 ky BP, while at 7.2 ky BP (initial hypothesis) or 8.4 ky BP
(modified hypothesis), the lake was rapidly inundated by Mediterranean water
flowing through the Bosphorus, which forced the dispersion of early Neolithic
people into the interior of Europe. The hypothesis further suggests that the
event formed the historical basis for the biblical legend of Noah’s Flood. This
paper considers the period between 28 and 7 ky BP, and three crucial points
are discussed: (1) the level and salinity of the Neoeuxinian lake; (2) the
re-colonization of the Black Sea by Mediterranean immigrants–and by
implication sea level and salinity changes due to connection/isolation between
adjacent basins; and (3) an alternative to the Bosphorus as an inter-basin
conduit. It will be shown that, prior to the moderately warm Würm Paudorf
(Middle Weichselian) Pleniglacial (prior to ca. 27 ky BP), a brackish
Tarkhankutian basin was connected with the Sea of Marmara. At the Last
Glacial Maximum (LGM), this connection was interrupted, and the level of
the Tarkhankutian basin dropped to about –100 m, transforming this basin into
a closed Early Neoeuxinian lake. In the warming climate of ca. 17 ky BP, a
massive water discharge originating most likely from the Caspian Sea and
arriving via the Manych Spillway increased the level of the Late Neoeuxinian
lake to about –20 m. Excess semi-fresh to brackish water must have spilled
into the Sea of Marmara and from there into the Mediterranean. During the
short climatic cooling episode of the Younger Dryas, the level of the lake
dropped from –20 to –43 m and then rose again to about –20 m. After ca. 10 ky BP, the level of the Black Sea never again dropped below the –40 m
isobath, nor exhibited a maximum amplitude of fluctuation greater than
approximately 20 m. At ca. 9.5 ky BP, the water level reached –20 m again
and Mediterranean water with its inhabiting organisms entered the Late
Neoeuxinian lake. This re-colonization of the Black Sea occurred in an
oscillating manner. It was slow at the beginning, becoming most prominent
by 7.0 ky BP. The connection between adjacent basins was probably not
through the Bosphorus Strait but via an alternative route, e.g., that following
Izmit Bay–Sapanca Lake–Sakarya River. On average, sea level rose
gradually, but in an oscillating manner, to its present level, and perhaps
slightly higher, averaging 3 cm per 100 years but certainly not 15 cm per day
(almost 55 m per year) as postulated by the “Noah’s Flood” hypothesis. A rate
of sea-level increase of 3 cm per 100 years would not be noticed by local
inhabitants and would not have accelerated their dispersion into the interior
of Europe. This brings us to the conclusion that “Noah’s Flood” in the Black
Sea is a contemporary legend.
Опис
Ключові слова
Black Sea, Late Pleistocene, Holocene, sea level, flood, salinity, benthic foraminifera, re-colonization
Бібліографічний опис
The Black Sea Flood Question Changes in Coastline, Climate and Human Settlement. / V. V. Yanko-Hombach, A. S. Gilbert, N. Panin, P. M. Dolukhanov. - Springer, 2007. - 971 p.