Saharan megalakes - an update

[Abramelin]

It has long been recognised that the Sahara Desert contains sediment, landform and palaeoecological evidence for phases of increased humidity during the Quaternary period. Many authors have also suggested that during some of these humid periods very large lakes, termed megalakes, developed in several basins within the Sahara. Recent work has questioned their existence. In particular it has been argued that the lack of well-developed and spatially extensive shorelines in these basins suggests that discrete groundwater and spring deposits have been misinterpreted as evidence for megalakes. In this paper we re-evaluate the evidence used to identify megalakes. Firstly, we apply a comprehensive remote sensing and GIS analyses to the megalake shorelines, their catchments and the wider Sahara. This not only supports the previously proposed existence of numerous megalakes, but also indicates a previously unrecognised megalake in the Niger Inland Delta region, here named Megalake Timbuktu.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357149779_Sedimentary_and_geomorphic_evidence_of_Saharan_megalakes_A_synthesis

[Abramelin]

Years ago they found what once must have been an enormous river in NW-Africa:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamanrasset_River

Africa must have looked quite differently, thousands of years ago.

I know this is not real news, but still.

Edited May 14, 2022 by locomekipkachelfantje

[Doug1066]

Herodotus mentions two large rivers in northwestern Africa which are not in evidence today.

Also, the Argosy tells of a large lake about where Chott el Rhasa is.

Could it be possible that some of these rivers/lakes could have still existed in early historic times?

 

A pluvial period existed in Egypt and the Near East during the first half of the Holocene.  "Noah's Flood" apparently occurred at about the end of this period (See Noah's Flood thread).  So this article provides some general information on the climate of the time.  Thanks for posting it.

A system of pluvial lakes (Bonneville and Lahontan) existed in North America during late Pleistocene and early Holocene times, as did a much-larger-than-current system in the Great Lakes.  Our deserts haven't always been this dry.

Doug 

[Raptor Witness]

Great thread ....

[Doug1066]

If we look at Sumerian king lists, they are neatly divided into "before the flood" and "after the flood."  Wooley thinks the "al Ubaid" period ended with the Flood.  The most-recent ending date I can find for the "al Ubaid culture" is about 4000 BC, about a thousand years BEFORE the date of the flood on the Palermo Stone.  Starting to look like the 2806BC date is untenable as a date for The Great Flood.  So we're looking for a flood that happened before 4000 BC.

Al Ubaid is pre-metalic.  The Bronze Age hadn't started yet.  So we're talking Late Stone Age for our flood.

Doug

Edited May 15, 2022 by Doug1066