Hi David,
I knew that would flush someone out. :-) I agree with what you say,
especially about Mike not understanding what you were saying. It is always
dangerous to quote someone unless one knows what is being communicated.
More comments below.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
>Behalf Of bivalve
>Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 8:42 AM
>
>>I don't think this guy, whoever he is, knows what he is talking about<
>
>Actually, the problem was a failure to make sure that my audience
>knew what I was talking about. I was cited anonomously because I had
>replied off-list.
>
>Obviously, I was not very clear in my initial reply. A large meteor
>impact can produce earthquakes, but not ones that will produce the
>motion necessary for the model Mike seems to be envisioning. A large
>impact will leave evidence such as a crater, unusual isotopes,
>tektites, and killing local organisms. At best, a region that was
>already precariously poised (e.g., the south end of Hawaii today or
>the edge of the continental shelf around the Gulf of Mexico at the
>end of the Cretaceous) could have been triggered to fall by a large
>enough impact, but the magnitude of such an impact must be compared
>with the magnitude that would have destroyed the ark.
If this is what you were thinking of, I would absolutely agree with you, if
like the edge of Hawaii or even the island of Tenerife (I believe) there are
faults which have already moved in historic times (at Hawaii, even within
the past 15 years). If they were hit by a meteor, the land would drop away
immediately. It is more difficult to see how uplift would occur unless there
were a thrust fault precariously balanced and ready to cause an earthquake,
which would have happened anyway with in a few years. An impact to that
would indeed cause an early earthquake and thus some uplift. But we aren't
talking about thousands of feet of uplift, which Mike seems to think is
possible. 50-100 feet max in those circumstances.
However, there
>is no evidence that such a situation existed near the Persian Gulf a
>few thousand years ago. Earthquakes in tectonically active settings
>can produce abrupt rising or lowering of a region (e.g., Chile, with
>the series of terraces observed by Darwin), but I know of no example
>of lowering and raising of the same !
>region following each other so quickly. Over the past 2000 years,
>the vicinity of Naples has gradually moved up and down, but that will
>not drown anyone. Theoretically, I suppose that it is possible to
>have a region drop over 20 feet and come back up about a year later,
>but I know of no reason to support the idea that it happened in the
>Persian Gulf region at the time needed by this model.
Agreed. In the Persian Gulf, there are no east-west thrust faults in
Southern Iraq. This is what would be required to uplift the land in an
advantageous manner for Mike's thesis. The thrust faults which run north
south along the Zagros mountains to the east of Iraq, even if they moved due
to an impact, would not do what Mike wants. And no normal fault, which
would drop down when the impact occurred, would work to accomplish Mike's
scenario.
>
>A second impact will not reverse the effects of the first one.
>Compressional tectonics is the only cause I know of for rapid
>elevation of a region.
Absolutely agreed, and there are no east-west thrusts in Southern Iraq.
>
>Dropping a large region of land into the ocean will produce large
>waves, unlikely to have a desirable effect on the ark (e.g., turning
>upside down; washing it either miles inland or out to sea).
Or simply crushing it.
glenn
see http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/dmd.htm
for lots of creation/evolution information
anthropology/geology/paleontology/theology\
personal stories of struggle
>
>
> Dr. David Campbell
> Old Seashells
> University of Alabama
> Biodiversity & Systematics
> Dept. Biological Sciences
> Box 870345
> Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA
> bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
>
>That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted
>Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at
>Droitgate Spa
>
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