No end to Black Sea discussion

In Science 317, 886, 2007 (17 Aug 07), two recent publications are
presented both of which deal with the holocene history of the Black
Sea: the June issue of 'Quarternary International', and a book, "The
Black Sea Flood Question". One-sentence-summary: evidence against a
sudden flooding is accumulating, but Ryan, the original proponent with
Pitman, still sees no reason to change his mind.

The editor of QI thinks the case is closed, as most evidence points to
a beginning of the filling a couple thou years earlier. Apparently no
evidence has been found that people fled from the plains that were
then flooded. A picture of a structure that was once highly suggestive
of a wood-and-mud-house (published in Science, 22 Sep 2000, p.2021[I
have once referred to that picture in another posting]) is now taken
as a random bunch of rocks and sticks.

Whereas Ryan & Pitman believe that the level of the Black Sea was
depressed by 100m during the LGM, authors contributing to the two
publications mentioned above rather think that the Black Sea was never
that low. But a Romanian geologist now at Woods Hole thinks that much
of the data gathered during the communist era is systematically
questionable (no particular reason offered though).

Evidence that speaks against the thesis by R&P are, among others,
signs of a delta in the Marmara Sea south of the Bosporus, indicating
a current out of the Black Sea, appx.10ky bp when according to R&P the
MSL of the Black sea would have been strongly depressed.

But Ryan says the is getting his own data from their reports, and
insists on his own interpretation of the logs. The delta south of the
Bosporus was in his view formed by a nearby river (to be published).
Other evidence apparently is a bit ambiguous [though I wonder how a
log can indicate beach barriers to one author and mud brought in by
bottom currents to another]. Ryan also speaks of a gigantic debris fan
north of the Bosporus in the Black Sea, but the evidence is not
published yet. Morphological features in the same area are similar to
those which were recently found in the English Channel, indicating to
him indeed a catastrophic flood.

Thus Ryan could be wrong, but on the other hand, his track record as a
professional geologist is strong. It seems this is a case where indeed
the jury is still out.

Hayabusa
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Noahs Fllod (not jokey)
    ... Controversy over the great flood hypotheses in the Black Sea in light ... Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor during the last 30ka: ... increased the Black Sea level very gradually up to -20 m, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Oil slick devastates ecology of Black Sea
    ... Oil slick devastates ecology of Black Sea ... RUSSIA ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
  • Re: Please do pray for Don Kirkmans perishing soul ...
    ... Black Sea and wiped out some shoreline villages? ... Like other PhDs who have renounced science and logic, ... fresh water in the original lack and sea water from the Mediterranean ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: dry Meditteranean
    ... > Water flows from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean? ... > then when sea level everywhere else rose at the end of the Ice Age, ...
    (sci.geo.geology)
  • Re: The Ancient Inundation of The Black Sea
    ... The Ancient Inundation of the Black Sea ... 155 metres lower that Ryan and Pitman would have liked it to be. ... There is no evidence whatsoever of any "breaking-through" ... Mediterranean water was delayed for one-and-one-half millennia ...
    (soc.history.medieval)