- Khvalyn Sea
sea, Khvalisskoe sea, Old Russian name of the Caspian Sea. Perhaps it comes from the ancient Russian name of the population of Khorezm - ... - Khvalyn Sea
(Khvalisskoe sea), the ancient Russian name for the Caspian ... - SEA in the Thieves Jargon Dictionary:
- very … - SEA in Miller's dream book, dream book and interpretation of dreams:
If you hear the melancholic sound of the sea in a dream, it means. You are destined to live a painful and fruitless life, devoid of love and friendship ... - SEA in the Dictionary of Economic Terms:
OPEN - see OPEN SEA ... - SEA
(Gen. 1:10) - this word is applied by the priest. writers to lakes, rivers and in general to any large collection of waters, as well as ... - SEA in the Biblical Encyclopedia of Nicephorus:
(slinger, shooter) - the name of two localities: Gen 12: 6 - the so-called oak grove near Shechem. This oak tree should not be mixed with ... - SEA in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
- SEA in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
a part of the World Ocean, more or less isolated by land or elevations of underwater relief and differing from the open part of the ocean mainly ... - Khvalyn
or the Khvalisskoe Sea - the Old Russian name of the Caspian Sea (see resp. ... - SEA in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
see Oceanography and ... - SEA in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
- SEA in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
a part of the World Ocean, separated by land or elevations of the underwater relief and differing from the open part of the ocean in its hydrological and meteorological regime. How … - SEA in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
MOPE, -i, pl. -I, -ey, cf. 1. Part of the ocean - a large body of water with bitter salt water. Sail by the sea. By sea … - Khvalyn
KHALYN SEA (KHVALIS SEA), OE name Caspian ... - SEA in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
MORE, part of the Mirovoy ok., Separated by land or elevations of supply lines. relief and differing from the open part of the ocean hydrological. and meteorol. mode. ... - Khvalyn
or the Khvalisi Sea? Old Russian name of the Caspian Sea (see resp. ... - SEA in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
? see Oceanography and ... - SEA in the Complete Accentuated Paradigm by Zaliznyak:
sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, sea, ... - SEA in the Dictionary of Epithets:
About size, length, depth. Boundless, boundless, bottomless, boundless, infinite, boundless, boundless, all-embracing, deep, huge, boundless, boundless, boundless, huge, wide. O … - SEA in Abramov's Dictionary of Synonyms:
see a lot || wait for the weather by the sea, across the sea, a drop in ... - SEA in the dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian language:
Kara Sea, Caspian Sea, many, abundance, Pontus, Seram, Sulawesi, Sulu, Fiji, ... - SEA in the New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova:
Wed 1) a) A part of the World Ocean, separated by land or elevations of the underwater relief. b) Very big lake with bitter salt water. v) … - SEA
sea, -I, pl. -`I, ... - SEA in the Dictionary of the Russian language Lopatin:
Sea, -I, uptr. in the names of parts of the lunar landscape, for example: Sea of Rains, Sea of Kr'izis, Sea ... - SEA
Sea, -I, uotr. in the names of parts of the lunar landscape, for example: Sea of Rains, Sea of Crises, Sea ... - SEA in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
sea, -i, pl. -I am, … - SEA in the Spelling Dictionary:
sea, -I, uotr. in the names of parts of the lunar landscape, for example: sea of rains, sea of crystals, sea ... - SEA in the Spelling Dictionary:
sea, -I, pl. -`I, ... - SEA in the Ozhegov Russian Language Dictionary:
part of the ocean - a large body of water with bitter salt water Swim by the sea. П¦ by sea and by sea. N-sea and on ... - SEA in the Dahl Dictionary:
Wed accumulation of salt-mountain waters in vast depressions, expanses the earth's surface... In general, all these waters are called the sea, as opposed to land, land, ... - SEA in the Modern Explanatory Dictionary, TSB:
part of the World Ok., isolated by land or elevations of the underwater relief and differing from the open part of the ocean in hydrological and meteorological regime. How … - SEA in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Ushakov:
sea, pl. me, cf. 1. part of the earth's water shell, a huge depression, a depression in the earth's surface, filled with bitter-salted water and connected ... - SEA in the Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova:
sea wed. 1) a) A part of the World Ocean, separated by land or elevations of the underwater relief. b) A very large lake with bitter salt water. ... - SEA in the New Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
Wed 1. Part of the World Ocean, separated by land or elevations of the underwater relief. Ott. A very large lake with bitter salt water. Ott. Large ... - SEA in the Big Modern Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language:
I cf. 1. Part of the World Ocean, separated by land or elevations of the underwater relief. Ott. A very large lake with bitter salt water. Ott. ... - MEDITERRANEAN SEA in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
? so named because of its position among the lands that made up the entire world known to the ancients? belongs to the most remarkable of ...
The reason for this work was publications on the discovery of the Global Flood in the Black Sea, primarily books and articles by Bill Ryan, Walter Pittman (1997), Petko Dimitrov (2003) and Dr. Ballard.
Flood Geology.
Bottom and coastal sediments of flood basins, as well as paleontological remains in them, can be considered geological evidence of the Flood. Their detailed analysis, including lithological, mineralogical, geochemical indicators, as well as the isotopic composition of sediments and fossil remains, makes it possible to reconstruct the conditions of sedimentation, the composition of flood waters and the sequence of flood events.
At the epicenter of the Flood - Caspian basin - bottom sediments are represented by sediments of the Khvalynsky (more precisely, the early Khvalynsky for the Flood maximum) basin. They differ from the higher and lower sediments in many ways. The most typical are the so-called. "Chocolate clays" named for their peculiar reddish brown color. In some places they are interbedded with greenish-gray and dark gray clays, forming a thin (1-2 cm) banded bedding. Chocolate clays are also interbedded and faciesly transformed into silts, sandy loams, rarely sands with a high content of clay matter and shells of Caspian-type marine mollusks. Thickness of chocolate clays and associated Khvalynsky sediments usually does not exceed several meters (3-5 m) sometimes reaches 20-25 m and more. The main area of these deposits is The Caspian lowland from the modern coast of the Caspian Sea to the foothills of the surrounding hills (Ergeni, General Syrt, Privolzhskaya, Stavropol), as well as in the estuaries of the Volga and Urals. The area of Khvalynsk deposits, exposed directly to the surface, reaches here 0.5 million km 2., and the total area of development of Khvalynsky sediments - up to 1 million km 2.
The characteristic reddish brown color of chocolate clays is associated not with free iron oxides, but with clay minerals, including oxides Fe. A low or no carbonate content in clays is indicative of a cold climate. at low temperatures the solubility of carbonates increases and they are retained in solution. On the other hand, the abundance of chemogenic atomized carbonate and the absence of secondary changes in the terrigenous pelitomorphic clayey matter indicate that sedimentation took place in a dry climate. The beginning and peak of this transgression falls on arid environments with intensified evaporation processes. The geochemistry of sediments and the composition of authigenic minerals allow us to conclude that the Khvalynskaya transgression was formed not under humid conditions, but under rather arid conditions. (Chistyakova, 2001).
In a series of marine layers of the Caspian basin, Khvalynsky deposits occur above the Late Khazar (last interglacial) and below the New Caspian (Holocene) sediments. They are separated from the Lower Khazar by continental freshwater Atelian layers, synchronous in the deep-water depression with the deposits of the Atelian regressive basin, the level of which was 110-120 m lower than the present-day level of the Caspian Sea, i.e. at an elevation of -140 -150 m abs. (Lokhin and Maev, 1986; Chepalyga, 2002).
In the Manych depression an analogue of chocolate clays are reddish-brown clay-silty - Abeskun layers G.I. Popova(1980) - lie on the surface of the depression and are not overlapped by anything, but contain the fauna of the Caspian type mollusks with Didacna Monodacna, Adacna, Hipanis, Dreissena, Micromelania... They compose the accumulative swells of the Manych Strait and correspond only to the early Khvalynian deposits of the Caspian Sea and the main episode of flood events 16-14 thousand years old.
In the Black Sea depression the Flood deposits lie within the New Euxinian deposits (Karkinian layers). On the continental slope and in the deep-water depression, they are represented by peculiar light reddish-brown and pale-yellow silts up to 0.5-1.0 m thick. In their color they resemble the chocolate clays of the Caspian basin, their age is also close (15 thousand years).
Paleontology of the Flood.
Specific brackish-water molluscs are the main indicator of the marine Flood. , represented by species close to the modern North Caspian. Among them, the Caspian endemics from the family Limnocardiidae: genus Didacna eichwald, now nowhere living outside the Caspian Sea, but widely represented in the Pleistocene of the Azov-Black Sea basin up to the Karangat basin inclusive. Didacnes are presented Didacna praetrigonoides(dominant), D. paralella, D. delenda, D. supcatillus, D. ebersini, D. pallasi, as well as relatively deep water (> 25 m) D. ( Protodidacna) protracta... Other endemic limnocardiids are characterized by Monodacna caspia, M. laeviscula, Adacna vitrea, Hypnanis pklicata... The most widespread elements outside the Caspian Sea early Khvalyn fauna are the zebra mussel of the subgenus ( Pontodreissena (D. rostriformis), and in desalinated areas D. polymorpha... Of the gastropods, representatives of the Caspian endemic genera are often found Caspia and Micromelania... The shells of the Early Khvalynsky complex are distinguished by their small size (2-3 times smaller than the modern ones) and a thin-walled shell. These deposits are usually associated with cold climates and low salinity. However, in cold conditions, larger individuals usually develop (Cope's law), and the conclusion about low salinity is untenable, because rich species composition indicates salinity close to the North Caspian - up to 10 ‰ and more. A more realistic explanation is the significant turbidity of the water and the lack of oxygen at the bottom of the pool. The increased turbidity could have been caused by solifluction processes accompanying the melting of permafrost..
New Euxinian deposits contain the fauna of the Caspian type molluscs; Dreissens dominate here Dreissena rostriformis, less often Dr. polymorpha and limnocardiids Monodacna Caspia, M. colorata, Adacna, Hipanis and gastropods Caspia, Micromelania.
In the Black Sea the didacs of the genus are completely absent Didacna they are traced along the valley of the Manych down to the lower reaches of the river. Zap. Manych (with. Manych-Balabinka) ... This may be an indicator of lower salinity (up to 5-6 ‰) in the New Ecuquin basin.
A similar in composition fauna of the Caspian type was discovered by us ( Algan et oth., 2001, 2003) in bottom sediments of the Bosphorus in well 14 at marks 80-100 m dating from 16-10 ka. It is dominated by the Caspian Dreissena rostriformis.
In the deposits of the Early Khvalynsky sea There is also a microfauna: foraminifera, ostracods, and diatoms.
Geomorphology of the Flood.
The Flood waters left clear traces of their dynamics in the morphology of the relief: sea terraces, specific coastlines, flattened bottom relief, as well as erosion-accumulative relief forms of the floodwater discharge channels: Manych-Kerch Strait, Bosphorus and Dardanelles .
Valleys of the discharge of flood waters. Manych-Kerch Strait is a giant erosional drainage trough connecting the Caspian with the Black Sea basin. The total length of the strait reached 950-1000 km and varied with sea level; maximum width 50-55 km, minimum - 10 km... Depth - up to 30-50 m... The slope of the bottom of the strait was 0,0001 , and the water level difference from the Caspian Sea ( +50 m abs.) to the Black Sea ( -80 -100 m) reached 150 m at the beginning of the drain and 100 m at the end of the drain. Water consumption reached 50 thousand km 3
Coastline. Early Khvalynsky basin fundamentally different from the modern, because at a higher sea level, it rested against the foothills of the hills surrounding Caspian depression (Ergeni, General Syrt , Volga) ... Abrasion shores with deep bays - fjord-type estuaries - appeared on the flat surface of the Caspian lowland and large deltas of the Volga and Urals, instead of the accumulative shores intricately indented by shallow bays. An example would be the bay we studied. along the valley of the river. Yashkul penetrating deep into Ergeni on 50 km and filled with a layer of chocolate clays with the Khvalynsk marine fauna.
Marine terraces record the position of sea level and coastline on each oscillation in the recession phase of the Khvalynsk Sea ... Due to the unusually high rise in the level of the Flood Basin, its sediments overlap much older terraces and form up to 9 marine terraces with the following levels in tectonically stable regions (Dagestan): 48, +35, +22, +16, +6, -5, 0, -6, -12 m ( Levers 2001, ....; Svitoch 2000, ....). These terraces record the standing of the levels at the phase of the general decline of the basin, and these oscillations were interrupted by a significant decrease in the level by tens of meters. The most significant of them are 2 regressions: Eltonskaya (up to -50 m abs.) and Enotaevskaya (up to -100 m abs.)... This data allows you to reconstruct
Fluctuations in the level of the Khvalynsky basin during the recession phase.
Chronology of the Flood.
According to various sources, the time frame of the Biblical Flood varies from 4.5 to more than 10 thousand years. So, the flood in Mesopotamia is determined in the interval of 4500-6000 years ( Rowe, 2003) however, this Flood was not worldwide, but rather a description of a major flood. Concerning Biblical flood, then according to the latest research based on different sources, dating about t XII to IX millennium BC NS. (Balandin, 2003), those. from more than 13 to 12 thousand years ago... This means that the age of the Flood goes to the end of the Ice Age, and not to its very end. The duration of the Flood also varies from two weeks to several months. In the theological literature, there is even an exact date for the Flood - 9545 BC. NS. (Leonov et al., 2002),those. 11,949 years ago. Quite close dates of the Flood events were obtained on the basis of the study of its deposits: the Khvalynsk deposits of the Caspian Sea, the New Euxinian sediments of the Black Sea, as well as alluvial sediments that fill the macrobends in the river valleys.
The chronology of the Khvalynskaya transgression of the Caspian Sea has been studied in particular detail, for which there are more than fifty radiocarbon datings. (Levers, 1997; Svitoch 2002; Leonov et al., 2003). Most of the dating falls within the interval of 16-10 thousand years.
Total for Khvalynsk time (5-6 thousand years) there are up to 10 cycles of level fluctuations with a frequency of 500-600 years. They are combined into 3 groups of 2 thousand years duration. Fluctuations in the level of the Khvalynsky basin, as well as the movement of the coastline for hundreds and thousands of kilometers, as well as large-scale flooding and drainage of sea basins, can be considered as waves of the Flood stretched over 5-6 thousand years. The first wave of the Flood early Khvalynskaya , began 14-15 thousand years ago and lasted about 2 thousand years; it was complicated by three oscillations with sea levels +40, +50, +35 m abs. Because flow threshold into Manych Strait at that time was at an elevation of only +20 m, then all these three pools overflowed into Black Sea through the Manychko-Kerch Strait. It is this first wave and especially its ascending phase that can be considered as proper World Flood in the Ponto-Caspian Sea. Second Wave of the Flood, middle Khvalynskaya, at the oscillation peaks did not exceed +22, +16 and +6 m and the Caspian waters did not overflow into the Black Sea, the strait probably did not function. The third wave of the Flood, late Khvalynian, did not rise above the current level of the ocean, and all its 4 oscillations (-5, 0, -5, -12 abs.) Were below it, but higher Holocene level of the Caspian.
Flood hydrology.
Sea pools .
The most significant in scale and most suitable for comparison with the ancient mythical floods unfolded in the inland marine and lake-marine basins of Eurasia, known as Ponto-Caspian.
Khvalynskoe sea. The epicenter of the Flood and the most sensitive indicator of its events (sea level rise, movement of coastlines and flooding of coastal areas) turned out to be Khvalynsky basin of the Caspian , especially at the peak of transgression. It was in it that the bulk of the Flood waters were concentrated, their composition and habitat were transformed, and the excess water merged into the Black Sea. As a result of the development of the Flood The Khvalynskoye Sea spilled over an area of about one million square meters. km, and together with the Aral-Sarykamysh basin, its water area exceeded 1.1 million km 2, which is 3 times more than the modern Caspian Sea. The volume of accumulated water masses (130 thousand km 3) exceeded the present one by 2 times. As for the events of the Flood itself, almost a million km2 of low-lying territories were flooded up to +48 +50 m abs. g. in the Caspian plain. The type of basin has also changed: an isolated closed lake (Atelian pool) As a result of the Flood, it turned into a giant flowing lake-sea with a one-sided discharge of water into a neighboring basin. Despite repeatedly flushing the pool with fresh water, chemical composition and water salinity changed little (within 10-12 ‰), because the main ecological indicator is that the composition of the fauna of mollusks and other organisms has not changed significantly. Perhaps this indicates the short duration of the existence of the flowing basin. But still water Khvalynsky sea differed from the Caspian low temperature (4 ° С in the north and up to 14 ° С in the south), which is confirmed by the isotopic composition of oxygen (18O = 10 ‰). It is also possible to assume a high turbidity of the Khvalynsk waters, which was reflected in the composition of sediments and small sizes of shells of mollusks. This is due to the powerful influence of solifluction processes and an increase in solid runoff from river basins ( Leonov et al., 2002 ) .
New Euxinian Sea ... During the Flood, in the Black Sea basin, the New Euxin lake-sea was located, the level of which was very low and at first did not exceed -80 -100 m. As a result of the discharge of flood waters from the Caspian, the level very quickly rose to -50 -40 m abs. The water area increased from 350 to 400 thousand km 2, so the area of the shelf flooded by the Flood waters did not exceed 20-30 thousand km 2. The volume of water masses in the New Euxin Basin reached 545 thousand km 3 (somewhat less than the Black Sea), but these were waters of a completely different origin.
River flooding was caused by a multiple increase in river flow, especially during the grandiose spring floods - super floods (super foods) in river valleys with flooding of all floodplains and low river terraces. These processes caused the formation of large river channels, significantly exceeding the size of the modern channels of the corresponding rivers. They are known as latitudinal valleys, macromeanders, large bends. (Dyry 1964, Panin, Sedarchuk 2005)... The river runoff passed along these paleochannels, which served as the main source for marine flooding - transgressions of internal lake-marine basins.
Slope flooding covered almost all slopes of valleys and other relief elements and manifested themselves especially actively in the spring-summer season during intense thawing. permafrost, strengthening of solifluction flows down the slopes, their moistening, planar runoff of water, accumulation of fine-earth sediments on the bends of the slopes. Melting permafrost and slope flooding were additional sources of water for the formation of river floods. These processes have been best studied in detailed studies at Paleolithic sites.
Interfluve floods covered vast areas of plateaus and interfluves with a relatively flat relief. As a result of uneven thawing of permafrost, thermokarst processes intensified and the area of thermokarst lakes - paleoalases - increased significantly. The overlapping of the interfluves led to an increase in water areas and a reduction in the area of territories.
Cascade of Eurasian Basins (Vorukash Sea) . As a result of the events of the Great Flood, a system of interconnected basins was formed in inner Eurasia. They are traced from Caspian Sea to Sea of Marmara, which allows us to reconstruct Cascade of Eurasian pools including Aral-Sarykamysh basin, Uzboy, Khvalynskoe sea, Manych-Kerch strait, New Euxinsky sea, Bosphorus, the ancient Sea of Marmara. Further through Dardanelles strait the waters of this cascade merged to the Mediterranean... In terms of the scale of the water area, the lake-marine system of the Eurasian cascade has no analogues. Of the modern inland basins, the largest lake system in the world is the Great Lakes. North America- significantly inferior to the flood basin in all parameters: in area (245 thousand km 2) - 6 times, in terms of the volume of water masses (227 thousand km sec) - more than 4 times, in the area of the drainage basin - more than 3 times.
Cascade of Eurasian Basins impressed ancient man and could be reflected in the ancient epic and mythology. In particular, a description of a similar basin is given in "Avesta" — Vorukash sea .
Sources of water for the flood:
high floods in river valleys
melting permafrost
higher runoff coefficient due to permafrost
increase in the catchment area due to Central Asia
reduction of evaporation from the water area due to the ice regime.
Reconstruction of the Flood
The biblical version of the flood.
Consider first the biblical version of the hydrological events of the Flood. The beginning of the flood is described as follows:
“… All the springs of the great abyss were opened and the windows of heaven were opened; and it rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights " (Genesis 7: 11-12).
Further development of events led to the emergence of extreme hydrological events:
“And the flood lasted on the earth for forty days (and forty nights) and the water multiplied and it (the ark) rose above the earth; the water increased and multiplied greatly on the earth and the ark floated on the surface of the waters " . (Genesis 7.11)
“And the water on the earth increased exceedingly, so that all high mountains what are under the sky; the water rose fifteen cubits on them ... And all flesh that moved on the earth lost its life ... The water grew stronger on the earth for one hundred and fifty days ". (Genesis 7, 11-21).
This was the peak of the flood events, the maximum rise in the level. After that, the flood subsided:
“… And God brought the wind to the earth and the water stopped. And the springs of the abyss and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased. And the ark stopped in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. The water was constantly decreasing until the tenth month, on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the (Ararat) mountains appeared "( Genesis 7, 8).
The completion of flood events is described as follows:
“In the six hundred and first year (of Noah's life), by the first (day) of the first month, the water on the earth dried up; And Noah opened the rabbit of the ark and looked, and, behold, the surface of the earth dried up. And in the second month by the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth dried up " . (Genesis 8.14).
Chronology and localization of the biblical flood.
The age of the flood. The time of the flood events is determined in the biblical calendar from the birth of Noah, similar to the modern calendar with the countdown from the birth of Christ.
"Noah was six hundred years old since the flood of water came to earth" (Genesis 7, 6).
This date looks like: 600 g. RN (Noah's Christmas)... True, this date is not tied to other known dates, including the present time. But theologians have long calculated the date of the flood, using data on the birth, death and life expectancy of subsequent generations of numerous descendants of Noah. (Genesis 10-11).
According to various sources, the time frame of the Biblical Flood varies from 4.5 to more than 10 thousand years. So, flood in mesopotamia defined in the interval 4500-6000 years (Rowe, 2003), but this Flood was not worldwide, but rather a description of a major flood. As for the Biblical Flood, according to the latest research based on various sources, dating from the 12th to the 9th millennium BC prevails. NS. (Balandin, 2003), those. from more than 13 to 12 thousand years ago. This means that the age of the Flood goes to the end of the Ice Age, and not to its very end. The duration of the Flood also varies from two weeks to several months. In the theological literature, there is even an exact date for the Flood - 9545 BC. NS. (Leonov et al., 2002), those. 11949 years ago... Quite close dates of the Flood events were obtained on the basis of the study of its deposits: Khvalynsk deposits of the Caspian , New Euxinian sediments of the Black Sea as well as alluvial sediments filling macrobeams in river valleys.
But this date is in good agreement with the radiocarbon dates of the Late Khvalynian transgression. (Arslanov et al. 2007, 2008).
Duration of Noah's voyage.
Until now, the prevailing opinion is that the flood and the journey of Noah lasted only 40 days. But this is a deeply erroneous idea: a careful reading of the Bible makes it possible to establish a significant long duration of these events.
For a more accurate determination of the duration of Noah's voyage, it is necessary to identify the date of the exodus, i.e. start and date of descent, i.e. its end and disembarkation from the ark. Both of these dates are indicated in the Book of Genesis quite accurately, although in the time frame from the birth of Noah. But this will not prevent us from determining the sailing time with an accuracy of one day.
Exodus time, i.e. sailing is defined by the following quote:
“The waters of the flood came to earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month " (Genesis 6, 11).
By analogy with the modern calendar, it will look like this: 17.02.600. RN (from the birth of Noah). And further:
« This very day Noah and Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark. " (Genesis 7, 13).
The time of descent from the ark (near Mount Ararat) is given exactly in chapter 8 of the Book of Genesis:
“Six hundred and one year (of the life of Noah), by the first [day] of the first month, the water on the earth dried up; And Noah opened the roof of the ark, and looked, and behold the surface of the earth dried up. And in the second month, by the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth dried up ... And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him. " . (Genesis 8, 13-14, 18).
In its modern form, the date of descent is 02/27/601. NS. The difference in the dates of the departure (17.02.600. PH and descent on 27.02.601. PH) is one year and 10 days. This is the total duration of Noah's voyage from landing on the ark to landing on earth - only 375 days.
True, the net sailing time on the sea may turn out to be somewhat less. It is necessary to subtract the time from boarding the ship (17.02.600 PH) to the emergence of the ark (up to 40 days) and after the opening of the roof of the ark on 01.01.601. PH until the earth is completely dry on February 27, 601. PH, i.e. 57 days. Then the duration of Noah's voyage in the water area of the Khvalynsky basin will be from 278 to 318 days, those. about one year, an average of 300 days.
Swimming distance of Noah.
Now, knowing the duration of the voyage, we can roughly estimate the distance that Noah sailed on the ark during this time. It is logical that he swam in one direction from north to south quite purposefully. In the beginning, the voyage took place in the paleoestuary of the Volga , the ark drifted slowly downstream until it empties into the sea and beyond - along the western shores of the Khvalynsk Sea ... Let's take a real average swimming speed of about 5 km per day, taking into account also the inevitable stops for restocking and due to weather conditions. Then the speed of movement could be about 200 m / h or 3.5 m / minute or 5-10 cm / second. During the voyage during the year, the ship could cover a distance of about 1500 km. This exceeds the length of the modern Caspian Sea from north to south (1200 km). This seemed to contradict the biblical version. However, it should be taken into account that the Late Khvalyn basin of that time had a higher level, higher than ± 0 m abs. and a wider water area, its length from north to south reached 1400-1500 km, and if we take into account the paleoestuary of the Volga, then a little more - 1500-1600 km, which roughly corresponds to the distance covered during the voyage of Noah. This is a fairly good match between paleogeographic and biblical data.
Place of flood events in the EEZ.
Now it is possible to determine the location of the action by the biblical sources, i.e. the water area in which the voyage of Noah took place. To do this, you must first identify the type of sea basin, its size, and geographical position according to the source mentioned geographic sites... All this information can be obtained from the Bible, more precisely from Genesis (Old Testament) in chapters 7, 8 and 9. very useful for this purpose will also be the reconstruction of the floating craft - Noah's ark.
When determining the type of pool, we proceed from the fact that a rapid rise in the water level is impossible in a reservoir connected to the ocean, because the level of the ocean, due to its size and inertia, cannot rise so quickly. This means that it was an inland closed body of water with no connection with the ocean. Now you can determine the geographic location of this reservoir using the hints from the Bible itself. The Book of Genesis mentions that Noah's voyage took place along the Ararat mountains:
"And the ark stopped in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day on the mountains of Ararat" , (Genesis 7, 10)
Mentioned here "Ararat mountains" are directly related to the Caucasus ... And not only to the Greater Caucasus , but also to the Lesser Caucasus where is located Mount Ararat as the place of the descent and end of the journey of Noah. And the nearest large isolated reservoir is located just east of the mountains Caucasus in the Caspian basin ... If we use paleogeographic data, we can reconstruct the flood basin of the time of Noah's voyage. this time (11-12 thousand years ago) existed here Khvalynsky basin , in the late phase of the transgression, i.e. Late Khvalyn Sea with the highstands level from ± 0 m abs. (Makhachkala phase) up to + 15 m abs. ( Turkmen phase ). Since the main parameters of the basins of these phases are already known to us, they can be used to reconstruct biblical events, including the voyages of Noah.
Noah's Ark.
Of great importance for the reconstruction of the flood events and the voyages of Noah is the restoration of the type and size of the floating craft on which Noah sailed - Noah's ark. Its main dimensions are given in the Book of Genesis and can be used to interpret the parameters of the reservoir and flood events:
"Make yourself an ark and make it like this: the length of the Ark is 300 cubits, its width is 50 cubits, and its height is 30 cubits." .
Considering that the cubit in ancient times was about 0.5 meters, then in metric units it will be: length 150, width 25 and height 15 meters... In terms of size, it is a fairly large floating craft even for modern ships. Attention is drawn to the observance of the ideal proportions of width and length (1: 6), which are still accepted in shipbuilding. This means that the ark was designed for long and long voyages.
As for the material from which the ark was built, it is, of course, a wooden vessel, which is clearly stated in the Bible. Moreover, it is from one species of wood:
"Make yourself an ark of gopher wood ..." (Genesis 6, 14).
Gopher tree- this is most likely a coniferous tree, namely larch Larix sibirica, since it does not rot in water. In support of this, there is an indication that the ark was impregnated with resin for tightness:
"... make compartments in the Ark and coat it with pitch inside and out ..." . (Genesis 6, 14).
What did Noah's ark look like and how was it arranged? Most likely, it had no resemblance to the drawings by Dore and other artists dedicated to the Flood, which depicts a modern-type wooden ship made of lumber. But this is impossible, since according to all the laws of shipbuilding, a ship of this size can only be all-metal, and a wooden ship will immediately fall apart. And the technological capabilities of that time (11-13 thousand years ago) in terms of building materials, they were very limited and made it possible to actually build only the simplest and most primitive floating craft - a wooden raft. But it was not a simple raft, but a three-deck one. There is direct information about this from the Bible: firstly, the great height of the ship is 15 m(Genesis 6, 15) already assumed the presence of several tiers of buildings or decks. Secondly - direct instructions to Noah on the construction of the ark:
"Make compartments in the ark ..." (Genesis 6, 14).
"Arrange in it the lower, second and third [dwellings]" (Genesis 6, 16)
The purpose of these three decks can be interpreted based on sailing needs. So, the lower deck could be inhabited only by animals, which is also logical and solved the problem of cleaning the premises by washing off the manure with sea waves. The third deck was probably used as the command bridge and residence of Noah and his family. As for the second (middle) deck, it could be occupied by the crew and service personnel. Only six people (three sons and three daughters-in-law of Noah) could not manage navigation, watch duty, caring for animals, kitchen, cleaning and other numerous duties on such big ship, and even with such a long voyage. So there was an additional team: sailors, servants, prisoners, who could be accommodated on the middle deck.
The analysis of the parameters of Noah's Ark also makes it possible to reconstruct the natural environment of that time and to clarify the place where the voyage began. For the construction of the raft-ark, it took a lot of building materials, primarily wood. You can calculate the volume of the material. The area of the lower deck of the ark when measured 150 x 25 m was 3750 m 2, and if we take logs of average diameter 0.5 m and length by 10 m, you get 750 logs with a total volume of up to 1000 m 3... And that's just the lower deck and only one layer of logs. This is a huge amount of high-quality round timber, and only one species - larch. So much forest could only be collected at the mouth great river, concentrating water and fin from a large drainage basin. This river could only be Volga is the largest river in Europe ... The rest of the rivers of the Caspian basin (except for the Amu Darya) are small and mountainous, there were no forests in the mountains at that time. According to palynological data, larch forests then grew in the Volga and Kama basins and throughout the Russian Plain. (Grichuk 1971, Abramova 1990).
Therefore, data on Noah's Ark give reason to consider the place of exodus of Noah's tribe from aleoesutuaria of the Volga flowing into to the Late Khvalyn basin somewhere in the area of the present Caspian lowland about 50 ° N Distance from here to the final sailing point - the south coast Khvalynsky the sea and the city of Ararat is 1500-1600 km, which is approximately equal to our calculations of the distance of the annual voyage of Noah's ark. This is a good match between biblical and paleogeographic data.
Sources of water for the Flood. As for water sources, in Genesis there are fairly clear indications useful for paleohydrological reconstructions. Chapter 7 information is given that the flood began with the fact that
"... all the sources of the great abyss opened up" (Genesis 7,10),
And then only
"... the windows of heaven were opened and the rain poured on the earth for 40 days and nights" [ibid.].
The interpretation of the second quote is not controversial and has traditionally been seen as a manifestation of intense atmospheric precipitation in the form of rain. But the first quote has not yet been interpreted as an objective phenomenon. But this is very important, most likely the expression "Sources of the great abyss" to be understood as underground water sources, including springs, hollows, swamps, solifluction flows on the slopes, and river floods that feed on them, overflowing lakes. What "Sources of the great abyss" mentioned first, before atmospheric precipitation, may indicate the predominance of groundwater runoff associated with thawing of permafrost over rainfall. And this is in good agreement with our poly-landscape concept of the EEZ, which, in addition to sea flooding, also includes river super-floods, slope flooding, and lining of interfluves with paleoalases. (Chepalyga 2006)... There is just a place in it for underground and groundwater from sources "Great abyss" ... Also a good coincidence of the biblical data with the events of the EEZ.
Reconstruction of the voyage of Noah.
Previously revealed that the voyage of the ark took place in the water area of Khvalynsky seas , most likely in the basin of the Turkmen phase of development Khvalynskaya transgression with sea level at elevations + 15m abs. The sea area then amounted to 809 thousand km² and more than 2 times exceeded the size of the water area of the modern Caspian(380 thousand km2), and the volume of water reached 102 thousand km2 (1.4 times more than the modern Caspian). The coasts of the sea were winding, especially on the northern coast, the length of the coastline (9458 km), however, was the smallest among Khvalynskikh pools, (in highlands) but 1.6 times more modern. Particularly difficult was the coastline of the northern coast, where there were many bays, peninsulas and several islands. The largest bay jutted deep into the land along the present the Volga valleys, and north of the turn Volga it continued in the form of a narrow estuary deeply submerged into the land, from where Noah's ark supposedly came out into the sea. It - Volga paleoestuary .
The beginning of the voyage (exodus). We will begin reconstruction of the voyage of Noah with the establishment extreme points travel: loading on the ark (exodus) and disembarkation (descent). As for the latter, traditionally the place of descent is considered Mount Ararat v Lesser Caucasus, near the coast Khvalynsky sea .
Now we will determine the place of the beginning of the voyage. Considering the elongation of the sea from north to south by 1600 km and the landing site near the southern coast, it can be assumed that Noah sailed south from the north. This is confirmed by data on Noah's ark. The need to collect a large amount of timber for the Ark suggests starting a voyage from the northern shores of the Khvalynsk Sea , more precisely, from the paleoestuary of the Volga. It was the only place on Caspian shores with rich reserves of driftwood.
Now let's check this hypothesis using the information from the primary source. In Genesis(chapter 9) describes that shortly after the end of the voyage and disembarkation from the Ark (presumably near Ararat city ) Noah had the experience of tasting grape wine. But this experience turned out to be the first and therefore unsuccessful. Noah drank wine and fell naked in the tent, which caused ridicule even of his son Ham:
“… And he drank wine, and became drunk and lay naked in his tent. And Ham saw the nakedness of his father and, going out, told his brothers ... Noah slept over his wine and learned what his younger son had done to him, and said: Cursed is Canaan, he will be a slave of his servants to his brothers. " . (Genesis 9, 21-25)
How could it happen that such a righteous and blameless person like Elder Noah (he was already 601 years old) behaved so indecently? After all, he was pious and even after the voyage he was blessed by the Lord himself! There can be only one answer: Noah did not know the insidious properties of wine, because he had never tasted it before the voyage. This means that he came here from a country where grapes do not grow, that is, in a colder country and Noah's homeland is far to the north of Ararat and the Caucasus. And since the Ark has covered the distance 1500-1600km, then you need to measure this distance from south coast The Caspian Sea to the north to get to Noah's homeland. And then we hit the northwest coast Khvalynsky seas , in the paleoestuary of the Volga , somewhere around 50 ° N... Again, a fairly good agreement between the biblical data and paleogeographic reconstructions.
Stages of the voyage of Noah.
The first stage of swimming . So, Noah's voyage took place from north to south, from the paleoestuary Volga to the south the coast of the Khvalynsk Sea ... It is most likely that in the beginning Noah's Ark drifted slowly downstream in the Volga estuary until its confluence with the sea. And then the Ark moved south along the western coast of the Khvalynsk Sea. Therefore, at the first stage of the voyage, which lasted 5 months (150 days), there is no information about the coast or other landmarks in the Biblical description of the trip, only the flood events and the death of all living things are described. The reason for the lack of information on coastal landmarks may be the absence of any noteworthy landmarks on the coast. If we accept our reconstruction, then this is quite understandable. The voyage took place in the Northern Caspian region along flat low-lying shores, moreover overgrown with reeds and coastal vegetation. So that from the ship this low coast was almost invisible. Only after 150 days did the mountains appear, or rather the tops of the Ararat mountains.
"And the Ark stopped in the 7th month, on the 17th day of the month on the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8, 4).
This name in the Bible means Caucasus mountains and not only Greater Caucasus, but also Lesser Caucasus where is located Mount Ararat , the place of descent from the Ark.
Second phase. Let's try to determine where Noah could first see the peaks Caucasus mountains ... If you swim along the western coast of the Khvalynsk Sea to the south, 700-800 km to 43 ° N, then this place can be determined at the modern Terek delta, then flooded to a mark of + 15 m abs by the waters of the Terek paleo-bay. From here one can actually observe in good weather snowy peaks of the Caucasus, even Mount Elbrus. How long could Noah's Ark sail in 150 days swimming at a speed of 5 km / day? This will 150x5km = 750km... Again, the surprising coincidence of the calculation of distances according to biblical data and paleogeographic reconstructions.
Stage Three lasted another month and a half (45 days), sailing took place along Caucasian coast:
“The water gradually decreased until the 10th month; on the first day of the 10th month, the tops of the mountains appeared " [Ararat ] (Genesis 9.5)
about 220-250km and be in the area of the mouth Samura between Derbent and Absheron Peninsula ... Right here Caucasus mountains close to the shore Khvalynsky sea ... Here in the sediments Turkmen stage of the Khvalynsk Sea near the village of Biliji a bone bowl was discovered, made by a man from a mammoth kneecap - the Bilijai bowl. Since mammoths did not live here at that time, it can be assumed that it was brought from the north by the Cro-Magnon tribe, who migrated, like Noah, from the basin Volga ... Again, a good coincidence of biblical, paleogeographic and archaeological data.
Stage four. The next crossing of 40 days ended on 10.12.600IPH much to the south:
"After forty days, Noah opened ... the window of the ark ..."( Genesis 8.6)
During this time, the Ark could swim 40x5km = 200km... Let's measure south along the coast for more 200km and we get to the south from Absheron to the mouth of the Pirsagat river ... What is so remarkable about the coast here? Here in the region of Gobustan , among the rocky shores and convenient bays, there could be another parking lot of Noah's Ark.
Right here in Gobustan there are traces of large anchorage of ancient ships and human settlements for many thousands of years from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. This is evidenced by the numerous rock paintings of ancient ships. Among them there are also flat-bottomed ships, similar to rafts, and they are the largest and most ancient ones have an age of 9-10 thousand years ago. One of them depicts 37 people sitting with bows at the ready, but without oars. These were probably warriors, among them two are dead, and one is standing, probably a priest or a leader. Here you can again record the coincidence of not only biblical, paleogeographic but also archaeological data.
Swimming final. Further, Noah's path, probably, ran through the Kura Bay to the south-western coast of the Khvalyn Sea, from where it is already very close to the city of Ararat and the Ararat valley - the supposed place of descent from the ark. It is quite possible that at the final stage of the voyage from 01.01.601 RN to 27.02.601 RN Noah's expedition explored the southern coast of the sea until it stopped in the Ararat valley. This place turned out to be more comfortable for Noah than the arid coast of the sea. The local landscape of the mountain sparse forest of the Ararat valley, irrigated by numerous rivers and streams, and rich in wild fauna, was more familiar, similar to the native forest-steppe of the Middle Volga region.
So, when superimposing the biblical description of the flood and the voyage of Noah on the reconstructed events of the EEZ, it is possible to note more numerous coincidences of these parameters, both quantitative and actual, which confirms the reality of the biblical flood events.
Conclusion. Now, after finding out all the details of Noah's voyage, it is possible to determine the place and time of this event in the natural processes of the EEZ. In terms of duration, these processes are incomparable with the difference by a factor of thousands: EEZ lasted 6 thousand years, a Noah's voyage - only about a year... It means that sailing on the Ark is just a short episode amid longer EEZ events. Accordingly, the significance of these events is assessed in different ways. Based on the biblical text, the primary ones were human sins, the punishment of the Lord and miraculous salvation But I. And the flood was secondary, it was necessary as a background and motivation for the salvation of Noah's tribe and all mankind. The Flood or the Biblical Flood was probably just one of the spring-summer floods during one of the highstands (+15 m abs.) Khvalynskaya transgression.
In fact, the main process is the events of the Flood, and in nature it is the EEZ and the Khvalynskaya transgression, which began much earlier (four thousand years) and continued for another two thousand years, until the end of the Pleistocene. This means that the biblical events of the flood and voyage of Noah developed against the background of much longer and larger-scale events of the EEZ and represent only a particular episode of the history of the EEZ. It is possible that the voyage of Noah is not a unique event, but one of the episodes of mass migrations of the late Paleolithic Cro-Magnon tribes from the Volga basin through the Khvalynsk Sea to the Caucasus, Transcaucasia and further to the Middle East. This could be one of a series of targeted campaigns to the south of the more highly developed Cro-Magnon tribes of Northern Eurasia to discover and conquer new lands, the Caspian and Central Asia, then inhabited by more primitive Neanderthal tribes. This is confirmed by archaeological data, since on the Caspian coast there are Mousterian camps located on the Khvalynsk terraces in the area of the Manas-Ozen river (Amirkhanov, 2005), but no Late Paleolithic finds. The situation is similar for the entire Caspian region, where there is no Late Paleolithic, but Mousterian sites are known. (Amirkhanov, 2005)... Their age is very young for the Mousterian, not older than 12-14 thousand years. it means that Neanderthal tribes lived on the shores of the Caspian Sea almost until the end of the Pleistocene. And at this time, starting 40-35 thousand years ago, north of the Khvalynsk Sea and the entire Cascade of the Eurasian Basins and west of the Caucasus already inhabited by the late Paleolithic tribes. Around the Caspian Sea and in Central Asia, a kind of refugium (refuge) was formed, where Mousterian tribes of Neanderthals survived here for more than 20-25 thousand years after their disappearance from Europe. (Doluhanov et al., 2007)
The voyage of Noah on the Ark is presented as a campaign of an evolutionarily advanced Cro-Magnon tribe from the Volga basin to the south to conquer new lands occupied by the tribes of primitive Neanderthals, which at the end of the Pleistocene were supplanted by the more highly developed Cro-Magnons. These were pioneering conquerors like the conquistadors in America and the Russian Cossacks in Siberia.
"The sea is the great conciliator"
F. Iskander.
To the south of the city of Uralsk, the Ural enters the Caspian lowland, which is a deep tectonic depression with sharp manifestations of salt-dome tectonics.
The lowland descends towards the Caspian Sea and has absolute elevations from 50 meters at the foot of the Predsyrtovaya ledge to -28 meters on the sea coast. The surface of the Caspian Lowland is composed of marine and continental clays and sands, less often pebbles and loams.
The geological area of the Caspian Lowland is very young. During the Quaternary period, it was repeatedly flooded as a result of transgressions of the Caspian Sea.
The largest sea advance took place about 20 thousand years ago at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, in the period between ice ages on the Russian Plain. As the ice cover melted, the level of the World Ocean rose.
At the same time, the outskirts of the Russian Plain were submerged. The Caspian, or Khvalynskoe, sea penetrated far to the north, flooding the entire Caspian lowland. Sea waters entered the Volga above the place of its confluence with the Kama, and along the Ural valley rose to the mouths of the Utva, Irtek and Kindel.
The coastline of the ancient Khvalynsk Sea has been preserved in the form of a ledge not only in river valleys, but also in interfluves. It can be clearly traced along the northern edge of the Caspian lowland between the Volga and the Urals, as well as between the Urals and the Emba.
This scarp is clearly visible on relief maps approximately 50 meters horizontally above the World Ocean level. By the beginning of the last, Valdai, glaciation, the Khvalynskoe Sea left the Northern Caspian Sea.
And it went away quickly, leaving behind a 40-meter ledge. As a result, a mass extinction of marine animals occurred, as evidenced by the accumulation of shells of marine mollusks in the upper sandy loam horizon of the Khvalynsk deposits.
It was established that it was during this period that the forest vegetation on the southern slope of the General Syrt (which was at that time the northern coast of the Caspian Sea) was replaced by steppe. Consequently, one of the reasons for the retreat of the sea was its drying out in a drier climate.
As a recent seabed, the Caspian Lowland has a very flat surface. The monotony of its relief is disturbed by numerous drainless depressions of various outlines of unequal size.
The river network is almost undeveloped. Only a few large rivers and a number of dry troughs, originating in the Common Syrt and the Pre-Ural plateau, go out onto the lowlands and deposit here all the loamy and sandy material carried from the uplands, forming internal deltas.
The Caspian Sea is bordered by a wide strip of saline sands, crossed by wide sea channels, which are filled with water by the wind from the sea. The geomorphological landmark of the Caspian region is the so-called Baer hillocks.
These are low (6 - 20 m) and long (from several hundred meters to 5 - 6 km) sand ridges, mainly in the latitudinal direction. Near the sea, the inter-mound depressions are occupied by bays (ilmen), and further from the coast - by salt lakes and salt marshes.
They were first described in the middle of the last century by academician Karl Baer. The origin of the Baer hillocks is explained in different ways. Some scientists consider them to be erosional formations that have arisen in river deltas as a result of erosion of their surface by the waters of delta channels.
Others are longitudinal aeolian ridges oriented along the prevailing winds, and still others are the remnants of coastal ramparts of the retreating Khvalynsk Sea. The famous Soviet geographer FN Milkov associates their formation with the accumulation and movement of material by the waters of ancient sea basins retreated to the south, which were subsequently recycled by the wind.
There is also a hypothesis considering the Baer hillocks as sandy hills flooded by the waters of the ancient Caspian transgressions. On the territory of the Caspian lowland, there are small uplands (Inderskaya, Shalkarskaya, Koikarinskaya, Imankarinskaya), which are salt-rock uplifts with outcrops of Permian, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments.
The absolute heights of these heights are from 50 to 150 meters. In total, there are about 1,700 salt domes of various sizes in the Northern Caspian region. The climate of the Caspian lowland is dry, continental, with relatively severe and little snowy winters.
The average January temperature ranges from -14 ° С in the north to -8 ° С on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Summers are hot and dry. average temperature July is 22 - 24 ° C. Annual quantity precipitation decreases from 300 mm in the north to 160 mm in the south.
The Ural in the section from Uralsk to the village of Krugloozernoye passes through the steppe, then from Krugloozernoye to Kalmykov through the semi-desert, and below Kalmykov - through the desert. The light chestnut soils of the Caspian semi-desert are solonetzic, often turning into true solonetzes and saline soils.
The wormwood-fescue-feathergrass herbage is sparse, often giving way to thickets of saltwort. In the north of the Caspian region, soil desalinization processes are observed, which contributes to the gradual onset of steppe landscapes.
On the coast of the Caspian Sea, a sea terrace with a width of up to 50 km, recently freed from sea waters, is developed. In the sediments and on the surface of this terrace, the modern mollusk fauna of the Caspian Sea is found.
The sea terrace has a flat relief and is divided into three levels. Coastal strip, periodically drying up and flooding again sea waters, is occupied by thickets of reeds and plump salt marshes.
During the periods of sea retreat, dense shoots of tamarix appear in this strip, usually dying when flooded. In the middle zone of the terrace, salt marshes are widespread, separated by narrow strips of low-growing reed and ground reed grass along depressions.
The upper level of the terraces is occupied by crusty-plump salt marshes with sarsazan. The saline groundwater horizon is located here at a depth of 3 - 5 m.Thus, when moving from north to south along the Caspian lowland, one can trace a regular change in the southern steppe semi-desert and desert landscapes developing the sea on the former bottom of the Khvalynsk and modern Caspian seas.
In landscape and ecological terms, the Northern Caspian region is very interesting as a place of mutual penetration of northern and southern elements. An amazing combination of northern and southern landscape elements, like an interweaving of the features of the nature of the Russian Plain, Ural mountains, Kazakhstan and Western Siberia very typical for the Urals basin as a whole.
This is due to the fact that the Urals is a kind of crossroads of borders of very different ranks: between landscape zones, mountainous and lowland physical-geographical countries and parts of the world.
The river network of the Ural-Emba basin, like blue threads, sews patches of these diverse landscapes into a single motley carpet.
On geographic map In Russia, you will not find a sea with the name Khvalynskoe. The thing is that in ancient times this was the name of the Caspian Sea, which in the entire history of its existence had about 70 names among different tribes and peoples. Khvalynsky (or Khvalissky) it was called in ancient Russia by the name of the praises - the inhabitants of Khorezm who traded in the Caspian.
The Caspian Sea, as an endless basin, is highly susceptible to changes in water level, usually caused by climate change... For example, over the last quarter of the 20th century, the level of the Caspian Sea has risen by more than 2 meters, causing destruction on the shores. But these fluctuations are nothing compared to what happened before.
During the Valdai glaciation period (70-11 thousand years ago), the level of the Caspian Sea rose by tens of meters, flooding vast territories. It is customary to call this sea basin the Khvalynsk Sea.
As scientists suggest, 17 centuries ago due to the sharp warming that caused the melting continental ice and permafrost, super-flooding in river valleys caused the level of the Caspian to rise so much that water cascaded into the underlying lands, causing a real flood.
The era of floods with a sharp rise in water in the Caspian Sea - the so-called Khvalynskaya transgression (sea advancing on land) - lasted 5-6 thousand years, and the cycles of water level fluctuations can be combined into three waves, each of which lasted about 2 thousand years.
The water rise time was very short, as evidenced by the absence of basal gravels and coarse sediments. The rise in the level during the Khvalynsk time was an extraordinary event both in scale and in speed. This rise is estimated by scientists at 178 meters: it reached +50 meters above sea level. Moreover, the rise took place over 100-200 years.
Sea level fluctuations were significant: with speeds up to 2 meters per year vertically, and up to 20 kilometers per year - the speed of movement of the coastline. And when we compare it with the modern catastrophic rise in the level of the Caspian (for example, the last rise was by 2.5 meters in 25 years), it turns out that modern speeds are an order of magnitude lower, although they are already considered catastrophic.
The area of the Khvalynsky basin was about one million square kilometers, we add the area of the estuary of the Volga and the Aral-Sarykamysh basin and, as a result, we get the area of net flooding - one million square kilometers.
During the most significant early Khvalynian transgression, the level of the Caspian Sea rose by 80-90 meters, turning the Volga to Saratov into an open sea basin. The Khvalynskoe Sea spread further upward in the form of an estuary bay (approximately up to modern Cheboksary) and had a length of more than two thousand kilometers. Thus, the waters of this ancient basin were located from the Ergeni ledges in the west to the cliffs of Ustyurt in the east, in the north they reached the foothills of the Obshchy Syrt, penetrating along the Volga valley to the mouth of the Kama. The sea flooded the Kura depression, the coasts of the Caucasus, the West Turkmen lowland and the low Karakum Desert.
Throughout the Khvalynsk period, the water level was constantly maintained quite high: +20 - +50 meters. The salinity of the Khvalynsk Sea was close to the salinity of the modern Caspian; it was inhabited by various microorganisms (ostracods, foraminifera, diatoms) and molluscs. According to the composition of the latter, the nature of the transgression is well reconstructed.
Changes in the conditions of the connection of the ancient seas with the ocean influenced living organisms, some of which died, others were modified, adapting to new conditions. If the exchange of waters with the ocean increased, then the salinity increased and the temperature fluctuations of the Caspian Sea decreased. The disruption of communication with the ocean led to the desalination of the Caspian and an increase in temperature fluctuations in different seasons. Thus, during periods of salinity, mollusks, oppressed by high salinity, had thinner shells than mollusks of the same species, but lived in a period of low sea salinity. Based on this, it was possible to establish the duration and conditions for changing the periods of desalination and salinization.
14-15 thousand years ago, the waters of the Khvalynsk Sea subsided, forming various landscapes. Marine sediments became the parent material for soils, which formed over time and are still characterized by increased salinity, as a sign of some kind of "kinship" with the sea. And now we can confidently name the reason why the soils of the "bottom" former river- the strait differ from its "shores" - the slopes of the valley.
The Khvalynskoye Sea, which retreated many thousands of years ago, left behind rich minerals, including shell rock, the reserves of which in the right-bank Voskresensky region are among the largest in Russia.
