Flood Made Britain An Island 'In 24 Hours'

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9-25-2006 | Tim Hall

[blam]

Flood made Britain into an island 'in 24 hours'

By Tim Hall

(Filed: 25/09/2006)

Britain may have become an island after a Biblical-style flood split it from Europe in less than 24 hours, according to new geological research.

The flood would have taken place between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, sweeping away hills between Britain and what is now France.

The theory could rewrite British prehistory, as current text-books teach that Britain - once a peninsula of continental Europe - split from the great land mass after a long process of erosion and rises in sea levels.

However, surveys of the Channel bed using new sonar techniques have revealed the remains of a huge valley, running south-west from the Strait of Dover.

The sonar survey, led by Sanjeev Gupta, from Imperial College, London, uncovered deep bowls, scour marks and piles of rubble on the sea bed that may have been caused by a torrent of water.

Dr Gupta said in a paper published at an academic conference: "In places, this valley is more than seven miles wide and 170 ft deep, with vertical sides. Its nearest geological parallels are found not on Earth but in the monumental flood terrains of the planet Mars.

"This suggests the valley was created by a catastrophic flood following the breaching of the Dover Strait and the sudden release of water from a giant lake to the north."

According to Dr Gupta's theory, France and Britain would have been linked by a high ridge of chalk hills, running roughly between Dover and Calais. To the north would have been a freshwater lake, fed by rivers, and deepened over thousands of years.

The lake, hundreds of feet above sea level, finally overflowed the chalk ridge and swept down towards the Atlantic. The water washed away the soft chalk hills and left the British Isles a separate land mass.

Dr Gupta's work is outlined in his book Homo Britannicus: the Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain, to be published next week.

[freedumb2003]

IMO, this is why some contemporary science gets such a bad reputation.

"Contemorary Science" (I have to guess at what you mean by that) has a great reputation amongst educated people. What makes you think it has a bad reputation? I don't think the Global Warming pimps have undone the mapping of the Genome.

You state an estimate range going back perhaps as much as 500,000 years. But not 600,000? Not 700,000? No, no, but 500,000 is a definite possibility (more recent is more likely, of course, but the range of informed estimates goes back as much as 500,000 years).

Scientific estimates of what happened a long, long time ago tend to point to magnitude. 1/4 million, 1/4 million, it ain't billions.

[ClearCase_guy]

Here's what I was responding to:

Human language--speech--developed perhaps 250,000 years ago (informed estimates range from 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. Before speech involving words and primitive grammar, there was posture, arm language, facial expressions, as means of communication.

All I'm seeking is evidence of "posture, arm language, facial expressions, as means of communication" dating back 500,000 years.

Do you have any evidence? Or it it all supposition? And why can't the supposition go back 600,000 years? Why 500,000? There must be a reason -- right?

Please understand: I'm not saying there couldn't have been gestures. I'm not denying that animals engage in forms of communication. I'm merely pointing out that some scientists like to pretend to be rigorous and pretend that everything they believe is based on solid evidence. And it sure sounds like they know what they're talking about, because they've got numbers and estimated dates to back them up.

But I'm just asking: What exactly makes us think that gestures existed 500,000 years ago -- but not 600,000? A hypothesis has a role in science, certainly. But sometimes it seems like conjecture is valued about as highly as evidence.

[justshutupandtakeit]

There are 47 Talking Snakes in the Senate. You need to look closer.

[DannyTN]

True, the "alleged" timelines don't line up. But what if the timelines are wrong?

What is obvious is that evidence of huge Biblical style water catastophies, much larger than anything in recorded history, have occurred in many places of the world. This wasn't expected by old earth scientists. In fact, it took a long time for them to recognize it.

Now that they are recognizing the role of monumental water catastrophies, maybe they will come to the realization that they haven't adequately considered this water catastrophe in developing their timeline.

[To Hell With Poverty]

Hey SunkenCiv, as long as you're upping my IQ every day with the GGG pings, I might as well add a little drama to my life by getting on the catastrophism list too! ;)

[Dustbunny]

Ah, ha, a great flood. Interesting !!!

[DannyTN]

"The flood myth in particular has never explained the survival of plants or insects or fresh-water/salt-water species from supposed Edenic times to modern times."

The flood certainly could explain a lot of extinctions. But it's not that hard to explain survival fo plants and insects. Survival of fish and plants

[GOPJ]

ping

[DannyTN]

"That {poof} there was a talking snake? Never one seen ever since. "

There's been at least one talking ass seen since. (Balaam's)

[nmh]

If you used proper dating methods instead of circular reasoning such as the INDEX fossil, it matches up just fine. With that in mind I have no compelling reason to believe in or buy your godless theories.

[FreedomProtector]

I lived twenty-five miles south of mount Saint Helens when it blew up May 18, 1980. It was quite a show. The mountain blowing up was quite a display. What was even more remarkable was the mud flows we watched on the news for the next week. These mud flows from the side of mountain formed a minature grand canyon. This minuature grand canyon is complete with layers of different sizes of rocks (strata). Notice that the canyon formed from Mount Saint Helens "has a dendritic ( tree-like ) system of tributary canyons". It was clearly formed by a catastrophic flood as I watched it form (hint: observation) from live pictures on the news. Did you observe the grad canyon "formed by a gradual erosiion process". Perhaps you have invented the worlds first time machine and watched the grand canyon form----you should patent it....

[ValerieUSA]

Exactly. Mt St Helens has taught us much, if only we would let go of our rigid unproven scientific dogma and open our minds to learning as the earth continues to change before our eyes.

[Oberon]

Your alternative is exactly what?

I'm afraid that isn't a terribly compelling line of reason. A better one would be "Yes, conjecture is part of the scientific process. It is ordinarily followed by the design of an experiment to test the conjecture, otherwise known as a hypothesis." The fact that many archaeological and geological hypotheses are difficult or even impossible to test does not render them prima facie unscientific.

It may, however, leave them unsubstantiated, a point often downplayed by many in the scientific community who feel acutely the undeniable connection between their career track and their credibility.

[Vicomte13]

"The Sinking Lands, which lay to the west of Britain (between Britain and Ireland) are mentioned in the Mabinogeon; the stumps of apparently suddenly submerged forests have been found off Wales. Also, most are familiar with Lyonnesse."

When Beleriand was broken and sundered by the sea...

[neverdem]

bfl

[Berosus]

Let me guess, even back then the English and the French could not get along, requiring that they be separated?

[PureSolace]

Britain may have become an island after a Biblical-style flood split it from Europe in less than 24 hours, according to new geological research.

Why can't they ever just say, "Probably from that there flood talked about in the Bible." *sigh*...(Or at least gilgamesh. ;-)

[RightWhale]

Hmm. Like the flooding of the Euxine Sea. And maybe the Gulf of Mexico.