Posted on 12/18/2006 9:18:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A mountain range once separated the continental interior of the U.S. from the Gulf of Mexico. Some clever geologic sleuthing has revealed how that barrier was breached, allowing the river to reach the Gulf... [S]omehow the once continuous Ouachita-Appalachian range was cleaved in two, leaving room for the Mississippi River to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The explanation for the split, which the two of us have been investigating for most of the past decade, touches on many other mysteries of North American geology, too -- such as why you can find diamonds in Arkansas and why the largest earthquake that was ever recorded in the contiguous U.S. occurred not in California or Washington but in Missouri, of all places...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciam.com ...
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Tease.
:') Is that a rolled-up copy of the January issue in your pocket, or...
THE MISSISSIPPI
The Mississippi carries yearly in its stream many billions of tons of detritus, a large part of which is deposited in the delta. As early as 1861, Humphreys and Abbot calculated the age of the Mississippi by evaluating the detritus borne by it and the sediment deposited in the delta. They arrived at the low figure of 5000 years as the age of the delta, its birth being related to about the year 2800 before the present era. However, when at the close of the Ice Age the ice cover melted in the north, multitudinous streams must have carried an enormous amount of detritus into the Mississpippi and its tributary, the Missouiri, and for this reason the above figure, if otherwise properly calculated, must be appreciably reduced. It is assumed that when the continental ice started to melt and the Great Lakes became swollen, but the St Lawrence was still blocked by ice, the water of the basin emptied to a great extent into the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi. ------
Hmmm. I already knew that.
I think there's even an old FR topic about the New Madrid Earthquake.
Thanks Fred. That doesn't compare though with his discussion of Niagara Falls. :') Yeah, okay, it does...
Dangerous Echoes Of Ice Ages Past - [New Madrid Fault}
Source: Stanford
Published: 7 Mar )1 Author: Louisa Dalton
Posted on 03/09/2001 19:35:47 PST by RightWhale
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3aa9a113213a.htm
Seismic Activity in Country's Center Sparks Debate
CNN | 6/23/2005 | By KC Wildmoon
Posted on 06/24/2005 12:44:41 AM EDT by ex-Texan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1429494/posts
Do you work for the Scientific American subscription department?
Great opening to an article. I will have to get hold of a paper copy.
No, somehow I doubt that SciAm would employ me. :')
Did you also know that the area was settled by Methodists at the time?
Nope, didn't know that.
I'm not a subscriber, so I can't view the whole article, but I'm curious. How was the Ouachita-Appalachian barrier breached? An earthquake?
The truth is, I'm also not subscriber, but found this irresistable snippet while looking for something quite different on that website. I may have bought the issue anyway... hmm, can't find it... ah, last week's pizza box... still fresh... mmm...
I'm not either. I'll venture a guess though. An Ice Age lake breached theOuachita Mountains?
I've speculated before, on other threads, that the Gulf Of Mexico may have been blocked (to the world's oceans) from the Yucatan across Cuba and to Florida and had dessicated to low water levels during the Ice Age. This surge of fresh water may have flooded the Gulf Of Mexico and broke the 'dams'.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
