The great flood:

A consequence of global climate change?

Ancient
A i t sea level
l l changes
h

Milankovitch cycles and the ice ages

Greenhouse warming and El Niño

Global climate change

g through
g time

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Martin%2C_John_-_The_Deluge_-_1834.jpg

GREAT FLOOD
used to describe the central event in any of several versions of the flood
myth, whether historically accurate or mythological

64.19.142.13/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-
_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg/460px-Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg_hyuncompressed
N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?
GREAT FLOOD

Noah’s Ark

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Noahs_Ark.jpg

N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?

GREAT FLOOD
Noah’s Ark : Geologic Evidence?
Black Sea

Early in the Holocene

· Black Sea was smaller, fresher lake
· Cut off from Mediterranean by the Bosphorus Straits
· Agriculture had developed on flat, fertile ground

Approximately 7,500 years ago (5500 B.C.)

· Warmest interval of the Holocene
· Rising sea level rushed through the Bosphorus Straits
· Flooded flat, fertile ground with salt water
N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?
GREAT FLOOD
Prehistoric floods

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8404363.stm
N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?

GREAT FLOOD
Prehistoric floods

Zanclean flood
a flood theorized to have refilled the Mediterranean Sea 5.33 million years
ago may have involved peak rates of sea level rise of more than 10m/day

newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46887000/jpg/_46887967_m
64.19.142.11/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb edflood.jpg
/d/d8/Mediterranean_Sea_political_map-en.svg/800px-
Mediterranean_Sea_political_map-en.svg.png

N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?
GREAT FLOOD
Prehistoric floods

Missoula Floods
cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across
eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the
last ice age (c.20 kya)

www.iafi.org/graphics/agesend_lowres.jpg

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Wpdms_nasa
_topo_missoula_floods.jpg
N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?

GREAT FLOOD

Great floods of the 19th and 20th centuries

Great Flood of 1884,, USA (MO)

( ) Great Flood of 1968,, England
g and France

mshistory.k12.ms.us/images/215.jpg www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/2052598606/sizes/z
/in/photostream/

N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?
SEA LEVEL RISE

Sea level measurements from 23 long tide gauge records in

geologically stable environments show a rise of around 200
during the 20th century (2 mm/year)

64.19.142.10/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Recent_Sea_Level_Rise.png
N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?

ANCIENT SEA LEVEL CHANGES

Over most of geologic history, long-term average sea level

has been significantly higher than today.

64.19.142.13/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Pha upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Sea_level_tem
nerozoic_Sea_Level.png_hyuncompressed p_140ky.gif

N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?
SEA LEVEL CHANGE

Causes?

www.solcomhouse.com/images/47-sea-level-change.jpg

N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?

SEA LEVEL CHANGE

Causes?
Short term and periodic changes
tides, meteorological and oceanographic fluctuations,
seasonal variations, seiches, earthquakes
→ meter scale

Long term changes

glaciers and ice caps, geological influences
→ mm scale l ( per yr))

N. Ramos | Geology 1 Our Dynamic Earth The great flood: A consequence of global climate change?