Comments on: Megaflood in English Channel separated Britain from France

By: Acilius

Acilius — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:43:01 +0000

The dinosaur was dead before.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:18:56 +0000

So how does this fit with the new discovery of the dinosaur found on the coast of Dover?
Was the dinosaur in the sea dead before the great flood or after?
Mark

By: Michael Simpson

Michael Simpson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:30:13 +0000

Nomen. I think that the North sea, at the time, was at a higher elevation. Once it carved out the path through the anticline, it flowed downhill to the Atlantic. The flooding waters then eroded the land, and as seas rose, it filled the eroded valleys.
At least, that’s how I’m reading it.

By: Nomen Nescio

Nomen Nescio — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:39:38 +0000

what blocked off the channel’s southern end, and when did it open?

By: Paul Horth

Paul Horth — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:01:27 +0000

I thought that in subsequent ice ages (lke the last glacial maximum 21000 yrs ago) the sea level had again fallen so that there was a land bridge with France and the Netherlands as recently as about 15000 years ago, when modern humans arrived. And Neanderthals got here before then. So this flood event was not the final isolation of Britain from Europe.
Paul

By: Michael Simpson

Michael Simpson — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:36:19 +0000

I had heard this theory long ago, and I just assumed it was well accepted. I didn’t know that there was some controversy–that’s how science works!
This article is fascinating enough, but to imagine world history if this hadn’t happened takes it to another level. Maybe William the Conqueror would have been an English subject because Normandy was connected to England, and we would be speaking some ancient Germanic tongue rather than a Anglo-French patois. Maybe Spain wouldn’t have needed an Armada and defeated Elizabeth I in a battle at Calais. Maybe England wouldn’t have become a huge naval power, the the US speaks Dutch. And, of course, Hitler wouldn’t have stopped at the English Channel.
I’m going to ignore the random creationists, and think about how the alternative history writers will have fun with this over the next few years.

By: verstapp

verstapp — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:25:58 +0000

#1>Seems it took a while to be accepted…
I’ve heard that the vatican has recently forgiven Galileo for his heretical fantasies.
“Earth revolve around the sun? Never!”

By: ScienceWoman

ScienceWoman — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:01:11 +0000

Great post, Ed.
@Zach There’s simply not enough ice or big enough glaciers left impound big lakes to create the sort of flooding we saw at the end of the Pleistocene.

By: Zach Miller

Zach Miller — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:10:21 +0000

So that’s another giant flood event for Eurasia. Pretty awesome, and it makes me think what’s going to happen in the next decade or so, what with all the major glaciers in the world melting at record rates…

By: Ed Snack

Ed Snack — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:59:26 +0000

Interesting, where was the Northern shores of the “North Sea Lake” ? There is presumably a series of shallows somewhere, around the Dogger Bank perhaps, further North it would seem to be deeper. And also, this implies that the sea level itself was a lot lower, so was this during an ice age or recently after ?