h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

F3198237?thread=1787272

A timely reminder. Have a happy Christmas Sk.

And you, Woodpidgeon!

How long ago did anyone ask how the Storegga Tsunami of 8100 years ago was related to England becoming an island?

I'm not sure - England became an island through another process entirely: the raising of the sea levels after the end of the Ice Age.

In a tsunami, after the inundation the water flows back out again. Simple gravity reasserting itself. Damage aside, the land is pretty much the same as before.

And precisely when was "after the end of the ice age"? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Wikipedia - "the last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago"
Brittanica - about 10,000 years ago
National Geographic - 11,000 years ago
Steven Mithen (author of After the Ice) - 12,000 years ago
John Gribben (author of Ice Age) - 10,000 years ago

So, between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago.

Thank you for those details.

I have often wondered how the rising sea level after the ice age related time-wise to the opening of the English Channel, the Straights of Gibraltar and the flooding of the Black Sea.

And while we are at it, how about Noah's Flood?

A very good account of the Doggerland inundation is recounted in Steven Mithen's book "After the Ice" - This would have been a very large inundation taking perhaps thousands of years. One research journal puts it as occurring between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago. The complete separation of Britain and mainland Europe probably took place between 5000 and 4000 BC,according to John Ridgway.

The Mediterranean was inundated about 5 million years ago.

The Black Sea, around 6,400 BC - again this comes from Mithen.

The overall melting of the ice sheets would have taken place over thousands of years - probably 6,000 years. There was a lot of ice to melt...

Ryan and Pitman connect ancient flooding legends with the Black Sea inundation. It's purely speculative of course. Check out this link for more details.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/

The Storegga slide occurred of the coast of Norway, to be precise about 100 Km north west of the Møre coast. An interesting animation can be found on the following link: www.hydro.com/ormenlange/en/about_ormen/key_features/storegga_slide/

Hardly surprisngly evidence of the same tsunami which hit Shetland 7500 / 8000 years ago has been found on the coast of Norway, for example near Austhreim on the island Radøy in Nord Hordaland. Here the flood wave reached about 3 to 4 metres high whereas further north in Sunmøre the wave height was about 10 to 12 metres above normal sea level. Source - Natur Historisk Vegbok Hordaland published by Bergen Museum 2005

Birkebein

Thank you for this. I found the PDF presentation attached to be very informative.