poundr17 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don,
>
> The information may be found in Butler chapter 7 :
> Giza in Architectural Elevation. Quote from p.123
> : 'The calculation errors are within known
> eustatic changes in sea level for middle and later
> Holocene times (i.e., more recent than 6,500 BP),
> with or without tectonic adjustments.' As a
> geologist, Butler was familiar with the facts
> regarding Holocene sea level curves.
> To put it simply, mean sea level for the Eastern
> Mediterranean has not changed much in 5000 years.
>
> Butler states : 'Lehner observed that the Great
> Pyramid's present reduced summit is about 197.24
> m. above sea level. This summit is believed to
> have been 9.45 m. higher.' This gives a vertical
> distance of roughly 394.75 cubits. Of course this
> figure alone means little, it is only when
> vertical dimensions in the other pyramids are
> analyzed that a convincing mean datum can be
> proposed, and this appears to be 114 cubits (or
> 59.6 m.) below Khufu base : presumably a 'sacred'
> quantity (?), previously employed at Saqqara and
> Dashur.
>
> In a later part of the same chapter Butler
> discusses how water levels were probably
> measured.
>
> poundr17
Giza lies just to the west of an important transitional plate boundary. To the
south this boundary is expanding and there are volcanos. In the distant future
the horn of Africa will be a large island between the Indian Ocean and a new ocean
to the west. By this time the fracture along Giza will likely have opened up as
well.
As I understand the geology, the Nile is likely higher near Giza than in ancient
times because greater deposition has not meant greater erosion. 30 miles up river
there could be an even greater difference. Sea levels do not vary greatly even
over geologic time unless affected by an ice age. This particular sea however. was
cut off from the oceans for millions of years. During that time the level dropped
several hundred feet and the Nile fell far into this chasm cutting a gorge larger
than the Grand Canyon all the way to Aswan. When the sea again flooded this gorge
became a fiord. Over the years the Nile filled it all the way to the sea west of
Giza. Almost as soon as it was filled it changed course and flowed to the east of
Giza.
There has been some technonic movement of Giza in the last 3,000 years but, I be-
lieve, most geologists believe the net movement is minimal. My best guess is that
if there's any movement it is a little higher today. This based on the fact that
the African plate is pushing up mountains to the north.
Hot water geysers are mostly ruled out for Giza but there are travertine deposits
only a couple hundred miles upriver from Giza.
There are a series of basins overlain by sandstones all the way to the volcanic
areas in Nile headwaters. These basins are enormous and flow in some quantity.
It has been said that they contain as much water as the entire Nile output for
600 years. They flow sufficiently slowly that by the time this water gets to Giza
it is ancient.
There is some evidence that a river once flowed by Giza from the west and dried
up only in recent times. This river appears (from satellite photos) to have or-
iginated from north central Libya which today is the origination of the largest
water projects ever undertaken. Pumps will move ancient ground water to the coast
for urban and irrigation uses. Herodotus and others referred to a "Western Nile".
There is extremely scant information on this but the entire northern Sahara which
encompasses a significant part of this continent is drained by no rivers. This area
averages over 5" of rain annually so it's pretty easy to picture a major river with
only slightly more rain.
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Man fears the pyramid, time fears man.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2007 06:55PM by cladking.