A while ago I came up with this theory.

About 10,000 years ago the Mediterranean was a basin, with the Gibraltar Straits a land bridge. At about this time the last ice age was ending, so the sea levels were rising.

Now what if there were towns and or cities in what would have been a huge valley that would have had rivers running into it. The water in the basin would have been salty, and evaporation would have kept levels of water consistent.

As the sea levels got to a point, the land bridge would have failed, and collapsed, causing a wall of water to crash down into the basin. Any towns or cities there would have been destroyed, like being hit by a tsunami, making locating any ruins almost impossible. Also 10,000 years of sediment would have buried any remains.

It would have taken a number of months/years to completely fill the basin.

The only way to find any remains would be to scan the sea bed, and look for possible islands that would have been there if the water levels were lower.

Interesting theory. It's a new one, to me at least, very creative, I like it. However, if it was that tiny spit of land between the straights of gibralter, it wouldn't match Plato's 'Continent' sized Atlanits.

Very similar to the Atlantis in Cyprus theory.
Some say that the Mediterranean without the water supply from the Atlantic Ocean could be reduced to 3 lakes. The problem is with dating. At one time the whole Mediterranean may have been a salt flats desert, cores in certain areas have found feet of salt deposits under the Mediterranean sea floor. I believe that something very serious happened around the time that Atlantis was supposed to have been destroyed, what it was-- comet, flood, volcanic eruptions, all of the above, I have no idea and no proof. The only real thing that can be said so far is that the Ice Age declined and the ice sheets retreated. Water levels rose. Some say over thousands of years and very gradually. Even water rising gradually will wipe out homes as in the Pacific where islanders are losing their homes to rising waters and have to be moved. See news articles posted on ATSNN.

I'm waiting for more details, fill in what else you think about it.

My theory is based on what I read about the mediteranian being a basin 10,000 years ago in a book about nature some 20 years ago. If I happen to find this book, I will be able to post the artist impression of a satalite picture of that area at that time, it even had a picture of what the straights of gibralter would have looked like as a giant waterfull.

This might take a few days to find the book.

It would be interesting to locate some top quality images of the sea floor to look over, there might be (only a slight possibility) of some remains of some sort of hard to destroy structures (such as sea walls, ports, etc) hidden under 10,000 years of sediment.

I will search for some now infact and post any links as I find them.

EDIT - Just fixed spelling

[edit on 7-12-2005 by Saldorri]

Awesome theory Saldorri. It's one I've never heard before.

It makes perfect sense. Im not sure if it was during the last glaciation but the sea level was some 160 feet lower than today. As history has proven man has a tendency to build on the coast. So if the water had gone up even a quarter of that 160 feet then anything built along the water would be completely burried. Of course if the water had gone back up 160 feet then you are talking about towns now sitting well under 100 feet of water. I am sure there have been many villages in the past that have vanished because of this.

There was a show on the BBC that stated that this did happen, an earthquake destroyed the land bridge and formed the Meditteranean, i'm trying to find the show again. I also heard that there are up to 100 ruin sites under the Mediterranean Sea, many tourist operators from Egypt and Turkey run diving trips to the greatest ones.

I wished to start a thread on this subject, since it has been rattling aroun in my brain for a long time.

However, as a good ATS member, I conducted a search, and decided to resurrect this old thread.

Haven't read everything, from three years ago, before this thread 'languished'....but as I've seen satellite topography, and have considered so many ancient 'tales' of "floods"....and knowing that this is so near mesopotamia.....and JUST NORTH of Africa.....where our species first emerged.....and seeing the Straights of Gibraltar as a possible 'breaking point' to allow a huge flood, from the Atlantic Ocean, into a 'basin' and, thusly, invoke the 'word-of-mouth', the Lore of the "Great Flood"....it begins to hang together.



I DID think I had an original idea, but as I've pointed out, in the opening paragraphs of THIS post, I see someone else thought of it first.

So, to pile on to this OP's idea....I think there is merit here.

There is a lot to discuss, so here goes:

There are multiple scientific disciplines that combine to help 'paint' a picture here. I have seen Science Channel, and History Channel documentaries that show how scientists have studied volcanic eruptions....not ony in recorded Human history, but even as far back as "proto-human" history. To indicate that, our species, as Homo Hmo Sapiens, as we we were promulgating in Africa about 100,000 to 70,000 years ago, were nearly wiped out, by a massive volcanic eruption.

Staying on this topic....a gigantic volcanic eruption would invite what we would now refer to as a 'Nuclear Winter'....but, of course, without the 'radioactivity' that we'd normally associate with the "SCARE TACTICS" we've been conditioned to believe.

(Sidebar...: Nuclear weapons are bad, and a 'dirty' NUKE is really bad....but, this isn't the topic of discussion, at least not here)

The topic HERE is something that can actually happen, and Humans cannot control, nor prevent it. It is Vulcanism.

It is related to 'Plate Tectonics', which is the well-understood process of how the crust of the Earth, that we live on, undergoes constant processes of change....sometimes we refer to them as 'EarthQuakes'...but, regardeless, the 'Plates' grind against each other, and sub-duct, and fissures happen, and volcaoes spew!!!!!!

Magma.....this is the hot molten part of the Earth....way down deep, WELL below where the natural gas is....WAY down....miles down, beyond our ability to drill......

See, this MAGMA is molten rock....it is VERY hot. But, it also is full of gas.....just like a bottle of soda. EXCEPT, it is kept under such tremendous pressure, that if let out......it comes out LIKE a Volcano!!!!!

If you understand physics, then you know that when something is under a great deal of pressure, it will STAY under pressure....just like the Soda bottle, until you open the cap.

The CRUST of the Earth exerts a pressure, because of its wieght due to gravity.

BUT, staying on this analogy....if a soda bottle has a leak....where is that pressure going to go???

That's a rough analogy to explain how the crust of the Earth works. AND, why Volcanoes happen.