Re: dry Meditteranean

From: Aidan Karley (aidan_at_mynameplus1.demon.co.uk.invalid)
Date: 01/18/05 

Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 16:00:06 GMT

In article <1105978714.572688.289880@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
wrote:
> Not that I've heard of. But it is not rec.arts.sf.written. I thought
> that rec.arts.sf.science is appropriate for speculations and
> sci.geo.geology deals more with things that did actually happen?
>
       Oh, no problems about the X-posting being appropriate. I like it
when SF authors keep the geology in their universes reasonably
consistent, but I'm happy to accept a *limited* number of
impossibilities (maximum 8 before breakfast). If you have too many
impossibilities, you end up in the "With one mighty leap, he freed
himself" school of fiction, which is not SF (IMHO).
       
> As for "eye-blink", remember that a lot of geology forms in seconds to
> slightly longer and then stays there for milliards of years. Do not
> underestimate transients!
>
       Checks my normal .sig file - oh, it's not set for this x-posting
group. Normally I sign myself as "Aidan Karley, Geologist". Preaching to
the converted here.
       
> Of course, if there were to form a barrier at Gibraltar just below the
> sea level, it would take roughly 60 times more to fill the
> Mediterranean with rock salt.
>
       i.e. , accepting someone else's "average depth of the Med"
(2000m), then if it evaporated to dryness it would leave a layer of salt
(halite plus "bitterns") something like 30m thick. Sounds about the
right sort of order. It's always been an issue for reconstructing the
palaeoenvironment of evaporite basins. The best modern analogue for a
evaporite basin is often considered to be the Gulf of Kara Bogaz (53d E
42d N) in the Caspian, which as you say has a lip restricting
circulation with the main Caspian Sea and a large area where evaporation
takes place, but only restricted areas where halite deposition is taking
place.
        

-- 
 Aidan Karley,
 Aberdeen, Scotland,
 Location: 57°10'11" N,  02°08'43"  W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233